Let's Go the Distance
by shoujolover22
Summary: CONTAINS MANGA SPOILERS Sasuke succeeds in killing Itachi. What will he do now that he knows the truth about the slaughter of his clan? Naruto & Sasuke team up again but for how long? NaruSasu among other pairings, you'll just have 2 read to find out!
1. Chapter 1

AN: This is the first thing that I have written for fun. I hope it turns out well. Any feedback is appreciated. If anyone finds any grammar errors just let me know. Also I don't know whether to thank or hate Saramoon5 for getting me started in writing. Her stupid plot bunnies decided to migrate to my mind. THIS CONTAINS SOME SPOILERS IF YOU HAVN'T READ THE MANGA! Anyway...obviously Naruto belongs to Kishimoto.

* * *

"_I haven't forgotten what happened on that day, next time I will protect you MY way_"

He stared at the blood-drenched body that lay before him. He had done it. He had finally done it. He had succeeded in killing his brother. Sasuke paused momentarily before making any movements, just to reassure himself that he had accomplished his goal and that it wasn't just another genjutsu or a clone. The stillness of the cavern after the battle was eerie and strange yet there was no hint of the world beginning to dissolve. It wasn't a genjutsu. No, this was really the end. He had been waiting for this moment, the moment that he would avenge his clan, for many long years but now that it had finally come Sasuke felt a twinge of regret.

Itachi's words echoed in Sasuke's head "_A man whose eyes tamed the nine-tails and controlled it like a pet. An invincible immortal. That's who Uchiha Madara is."_

Sasuke realized that although this was the man that he had blamed for the death of his family and entire clan, he was not the one pulling the strings. No, that was Uchiha Madara. Was he really an immortal? How could the man that wiped out the clan that he had founded still be alive? And most importantly, how could he kill someone with _that_ much power on his own?

If Madara could indeed control the powers of the kyuubi then it was doubtless that he would be going after Naruto. Sasuke thought bitterly of his ex-friend and rival. If he did truly intend to kill this Uchiha Madara he would have to confront Naruto, either as a friend or an enemy. Now that he possessed Itachi's mangekyo sharingan he would just need to figure out how to unlock its power. If he could gain control over Naruto's demon then he could take down Madara.

He figured that it would not be too difficult to track down the dobe since he was doubtlessly close on his trail not to mention that he wasn't the sharpest kunai of the bunch. He would simply backtrack slightly, avoiding the current location of Team Hebi. He sure as hell was not going to resort to joining with his former "team". They were much too troublesome and would most likely prove a pain when it came to the inevitable reunion with Naruto.

Sasuke slowly turned away from the cloud cloak-clad corpse and exited the cavern. "Guess your eyesight was poorer than you thought Itachi. But thanks to you, mine won't fade."

Zetsu watched as the raven-haired boy strolled out of the cave. Pein had warned him to not interfere with the activities of the two brothers. He was right in following these orders. Once the young man had vanished out of Zetsu's senses, he phased the rest of his body through the cool stone wall of the cavern and approached Itachi's motionless body.

"It's too bad that Itachi's dead, he was a great asset to our cause" said Zetsu's white half.

"It doesn't matter anymore. Let's just retrieve his ring and dispose of his body", replied the darker side.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"God dammit!". Naruto was pissed. Not just the normal variety either. No, he was fuming, almost quite literally courtesy of the slight kyuubi aura that surrounded him. Who the hell was that man? Tobi was what he had called himself but who was he? He was indeed a member of the Akatsuki, the same group that had been trying to extract the blonde's biiju from him and the same group that that Sasuke-teme's brother belonged too. Naruto's eyes were fading from a blood crazed red back to their familiar shade of blue.

The battle had not gone as well as it should have. The lush forest that had been present upon their arrival was patchy at best. Kunais could be found buried in the trunks of some surprisingly still standing trees. The forest had become the site of an intense battle. Despite how clueless this Tobi person had appeared he was actually quite a skillful fighter. And besides, he had that damn Uchiha sharingan. How could he have the same eyes as that Sas…it didn't matter anymore at least to Naruto. This battle had already delayed him enough as it was and drained a good quantity of his chakra not to mention that of his comrades.

Despite having so many allies present, Naruto had done most of the fighting with occasional assistance from Sai and Kakashi until a certain point. Yamato stayed nearby simply for the purpose of ensuring everyone else's safety in the event that Naruto lost it and began his decent into his kyuubi possessed state. Sakura was busy treating various injuries that had occurred to the Konaha ninjas from various chunks of flying debris and logs. She herself was for the most part unharmed and had remained conscious for the duration of the battle.

"So….who the hell was that anyway?" was how Kiba eloquently phrased his question.

Uneasy glances flickered from the surrounding faces. Everyone had seen it. That man had been a sharingan user, which meant that he was indeed an Uchiha yet nobody wanted to be the first one to say it.

"It doesn't really matter at this point who he was," Kakashi said as he walked toward the center of the group, breaking the silence, "the real question is how do we find him?"

"You're kidding me right Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked. "He's gone for now. Why does it really matter. We've been sidetracked enough. Let's just get back on the trail and find Sasuke!"

"Hold it right there Naruto-kun." Yamato had approached Naruto without him realizing it and had put a restraining hand on his shoulder. The eager blonde had already begun to move out at the thought of retrieving his former teammate. "We can't simply run off on another chase after a battle like that. We need to rest before we move on. Your chakra supply has been depleted severely not to mention that everyone needs a break after an experience like that. What would happen if we did encounter Sasuke-kun in our current condition?"

Naruto clenched his fists at the though of having to wait another moment until resuming the search for Sasuke. They were right. Maybe he did need a rest, they definitely did. "Alright Yamato-taichou. But after this we're going to track down that Sasuke-teme dattebayo!"

Not a single one of the Konoha ninjas could remain in a worn out state with the hopefulness that emanated from the golden-haired boy filling the air. Hinata, Sakura, Sai and Yamato gave satisfied smiles, while Kiba, Kakashi and Shino simply nodded in agreement to Naruto's words. Akamaru gave a thunderous bark of approval as the group gathered together to discuss tracking.

* * *

AN:short chapter but that's just how it split. They'll get longer. 


	2. Chapter 2

AN: This is the second chapter of my story (as if you didn't know that). Yet, another short chapter. Contains spoilers if you havn't read the manga. If you don't want to know about a kinda important character dying, stop reading here. Anyway Naruto characters and world do not belong to me. If they did...well we just won't go there.

* * *

Shizune burst through the door of Tsunade's office suddenly but failed to even cause a twitch in the sleeping hokage. "Tsunade-sama! Wake up! We have an emergency!" Shizune rushed over to Tsunade and woke her abruptly. 

Tsunade woke with a grunt and glared angrily at her assistant. "What the hell is it Shizune?" Shizune looked at Tsunade with an obvious look of worry plastered on her face. At that moment Tsunade realized that this was not just an ordinary interruption.

"Tsunade-sama, we have received a message. It seems that it is from Jiraiya-san. The toad bearing the message said that it can be given to you and only you."

This was bad. Tsunade knew that Jiraiya wouldn't send a message unless it was something extremely serious. "Bring him in! Now!" Tsunade barked to her assistant.

Shizune rushed out of the room and returned momentarily bearing an elderly looking toad. Shizune placed the toad on Tsunade's desk simultaneously pushing several bottles of sake aside.

"Hokage-sama," began the toad, "I come bearing information from Jiraiya-chan."

"He must have considered it to be very important in order for him to send you all the way here. What information does he have to report?" Tsunade inquired of the toad.

"Firstly, I am greatly saddened to report that Jiraiya-chan has been killed at the hands of the enemy…"

Tsunade stared at him. 'No. It couldn't be. Jiraiya couldn't be dead. He was too strong for that.' Tsunade slumped into her seat at the head of her desk.

Tears began to fall from her eyes as she began to speak. "H…how could this have happened? Why? He was supposed to return here dammit!" Tsunade slammed her fist into her desk causing splinters to rise from the wood. "We were a team. The three of us." Tsunade said weakly. "First Orochimaru deserted us and now Jiraiya's left me too. What am I supposed to do? How am I supposed to handle this situation?"

Shizune walked up to the hokage and placed a comforting hand on her master's shoulder. Shizune could not believe it herself. Jiraiya had been a sanin after all. What kind of opponent could have defeated him? Were the akatsuki really this powerful? What kind of monsters were they really up against?

"Tsunade-sama…" Shizune said encouragiingly.

The hokage looked up from the gaze directed at the desk and looked at her assistant with bleary eyes and nodded.

"What information did Jiraiya send you here to deliver?" Tsunade asked.

"Jiraiya-chan left me with a message regarding the leader of the Akatsuki, Pein" The toad turned around and exposed his back to the hokage so that she could have a clear view of the message that had been inscribed on his back by Jiraiya.

Tsunade looked at the message that had clearly been inscribed using chakra and was in a code that was only known to three people, two of who were supposedly dead. Tsunade's eyes widened in shock as she registered what she was reading. "This means…"

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sasuke had been moving through the forest for several hours now. Darkness was falling on the forest now and it was getting harder for Sasuke to see in front of him. It had taken him longer than he had thought it would to cut around his still sparring former teammates. It didn't help that he was feeling weakened due to using his sharingan so much. \

Yet, being in the open forest and not having to worry about being caught in a genjutsu was refreshing and even though he was moving at a fairly fast pace Sasuke was beginning to feel reenergized. God it felt good to be away from that psychopathic pervert Karin and the shark boy. Hopefully he wouldn't have to meet with them again. Sasuke vowed that if he did encounter them in his life that he would do himself and the world a favor and destroy them.

His former team was of no concern to him at the moment though. His main priority right now was finding that dobe and the others.

'I have to do this carefully so that this meeting happens on my terms,' Sasuke thought to himself. He didn't want to get himself captured. 'I don't know how far that dobe's powers have progressed. It would probably be best to not anger the idiot._'_

Sasuke didn't want to have to kill any of them either. Despite how he hated to admit it, he could not do this on his own. He needed them to achieve his ultimate purpose. Besides, it's not like he was making any commitments by joining up with them. He could leave immediately afterward.

'After I prove to that damn fox that I'm better than him once and for all!' Sasuke couldn't help saying that outside of his head but he regretted doing so soon afterward, realizing that there was a group of people nearby.

Sasuke stopped abruptly. The scenery had changed from dense forest to a charred sparse one. Sasuke dropped down to the ground since there was no longer any cover provided to him by the thinning canopy. He began to move forward slowly, activating his sharingan to detect any approaching enemies. This was Naruto's chakra that he sensed. It had to be. Several minutes passed before a clearing came into view. The group present had lit a fire. Naruto was sleeping against a tree while the rest of the group was sleeping nearer to the fire. Sasuke could see Kiba and his mutt Akamaru, along with the stuttering Hyuuga, the bug guy (God why couldn't he remember his name!), the pink menace, and the one that had taken his place in the team once he had left.

Sasuke was sure that Kakashi was somewhere nearby yet he could not sense him. Leave it to a jounin to be able to conceal himself that effectively. Sasuke decided that it was now or never. If he didn't approach now it would appear more suspicious and he would be risking gaining unwanted attention. He began moving toward the group into the clearing.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Zetsu phased through the wall of the Akatsuki base. It didn't appear that anyone was around so he entered the rest of the way into a dark hallway. He began walking down the hallway silently. A hologram suddenly appeared in front of him. It was a hologram of Pein.

"Zetsu we want to speak with you." Zetsu followed the hologram down the hallway and into a room. The original Pein was seated along with Tobi.

"What news do you have to report Zetsu? What of Itachi and his brother?" Pein questioned.

Zetsu's eyes moved from Pein to Tobi. The single red eye stared at him through a dark hole in the mask.

"Sasuke has killed Itachi," said the white side.

The black side replied, "We disposed of the body and retrieved his ring as well."

Pein spoke up, "and what of Kisame-san?"

"He is still in conflict with the brat from the village of the mist," replied Zetsu.

Zetsu thought that it was best that he not mention the fact that Itachi's eyes had been missing when he had consumed the corpse. If questioned about it later he would just say that he didn't notice anything abnormal about the corpse so he couldn't be blamed.

"Aww...it's too bad that Itachi died. I thought for sure he would be able to handle his little brother," Tobi said almost casually, "Oh well maybe, Kisame will fare better."

Pein looked at the man critically. How could his men be so disposable to him? The time would come where he would smite him. After all, no one could defy god.

* * *

AN: no comment. Reviews are highly appreciated and will be used to feed my plot bunnies. 


	3. Chapter 3

AN: WOOT chapter 3 and it's not as short as the 1st 2. Yeah this chapter was not supposed to turn out like it did but trying to make the characters do what I want them to do is rather difficult. They kinda have minds of their own. Anyway on a completely different note I started Kendo this Saturday. God is it hard, but I like it. I think its gonna be fun.

* * *

Naruto woke with a start. He looked around warily. There was something in the forest and he sensed it. It was familiar but he couldn't remember what it was. Sakura rose up into a sitting position. She had felt Naruto's uneasiness and woke up almost immediately. She looked at Naruto with a worrisome look in her teal eyes. Sai, who was sitting close by her, also focused his attention on the Jinchuuriki. 

"Naruto, what's wrong? You look worried." Sakura voiced her concern. Sakura's voice had woken the others as well and they all focused their attention on the blonde.

"Oh, I just thought that I…" Naruto's sentence was cut short as he realized what the presence was and jumped straight to his feet. He stared out into the darkness of the partial forest and from the darkness he saw a shape begin to emerge. The others, jolted by Naruto's sudden action, also jumped to their feet and drew their weapons and looked in the direction that Naruto was facing. The dark form lightened as it approached the fire.

Everyone had looks of surprise and some of moderate anger apparent on their faces. "Sasuke!" Naruto yelled as he stumbled forward a couple of steps.

Sasuke decided that this was the time to play it cool but he had to be careful not to let his guard down. Kakashi still wasn't in sight nor was that freak with the wood ninjutsu.

"What is it, usuratonkachi? Why do you have that dumbfounded look on your face?" Sasuke asked.

Sakura spoke up, "S-Sasuke-kun. What…why…what's going on?"

Sai looked at Sasuke warily but kept his focus on Naruto at the same time. This was the person that Naruto felt a close bond to. That meant that he should follow his lead and watch his back.

He made eye contact with Kiba, Hinata, and Shino and conveyed this message to them. Everyone took a couple steps back and relaxed a bit while still keeping their weapons at the ready and their senses open to an ambush. None of them were sure quite what Sasuke was up to.

"Kakashi-sensei, you and your friend can come down from that tree. I know you're up there," Sasuke said with arrogance apparent in his voice.

Kakashi cursed softly "Damn."

He thought Yamato and himself had concealed themselves beyond any ninja's detection. Yamato and Kakashi dropped from the trees and glared at the raven-haired boy.

Kakashi spoke "Why have you come here Sasuke? Did you decide to give up? Wait, that's not in your nature is it? Perhaps you came here with the intention of killing us off."

Sasuke met his former sensei's gaze with a look of indifference. "Maybe I have," he said drawing his katana from his back slowly.

This wasn't going to end well. He could feel it.

Kiba's boisterous personality took control of him at the moment, "So why don't you fucking try it!! I doubt a coward like you can take on even one of us!"

"Kiba-kun!" Hinata squeaked. "We shouldn't provoke him. He's been with Orochimaru all this time. Who knows what he's capable of!"

Shino nodded in silent agreement but braced himself for battle nonetheless.

"Everyone calm down!" Sakura yelled. She focused her attention on Sasuke, tears welling up in her eyes as she did so. Sasuke once again met her gaze with a look of pure indifference.

Naruto rested his hand on Sakura's shoulder. "It's ok Sakura." He looked at her and smiled but then began to walk forward.

"Naruto! Be careful! He's dangerous!" Kakashi and Yamato both yelled at him. Naruto continued to move forward. A look of confusion momentarily appeared on Sasuke's face, only to be quickly replaced with an arrogant smirk. He pulled his katana completely out its sheath.

"You think you can take me on, usuratonkachi? I'm too strong for you too…" Sasuke's sentence was cut short as Naruto stopped inches in front of him still with no apparent weapon.

Did the dobe think he was going to take him on barehanded? A look of shock appeared on Sasuke's face as Naruto moved forward and wrapped his arms around him.

'What the hell is going on?!' he thought.

Sasuke let his sword drop to his side. Sasuke could feel dampness on the back of his shirt. Naruto was crying?

Naruto sobbed heavily. "You've come back. I finally have you." Sasuke finally registered what position he was in and attempted to push Naruto off of him.

"Get off of me dobe or I'll kill you!" said Sasuke.

"I sure as hell am NOT going to let you go! I've been through hell to get you and I am not letting you go now!"

Sasuke put his hand on Naruto while focusing chakra into it. His red eyes swirled menacingly. "Get off me now."

He pushed Naruto off of him firmly but not so much as to hurt him. Naruto regained composure while wiping the tears from his eyes and took a step back from the Uchiha.

"Sooo….why ARE you here and not trying to wipe us off the face of the planet?" Naruto inquired.

Sasuke's gaze fell to the ground as he said in a quiet voice "I killed him." Naruto looked at him in disbelief.

"You're kidding me. You killed your brother! How?"

Sasuke replied in a grudging tone, "I don't want to talk about it. All that matters is the fact that the bastard is dead."

Everyone had relaxed considerable with the exception of Sai, Yamato and Kakashi. They felt that this could still be a trap but they still loosened their grips on their weapons and relaxed their stances slightly.

"I'm still not coming back to Konoha though. I'm here to ask you guys for help. As much as I wish it was not true, I am not strong enough to take on my current opponent," Sasuke said.

Naruto met him with a quizzical look. "Wait, I thought you said that you had killed your brother? Wasn't he your opponent?"

Sakura saw that Sasuke was physically exhausted. Could it be that he had recently finished his battle with Itachi?

"Sasuke, why don't you sit down with us at the fire?" she asked.

He hated to admit it but he was tired as hell. He realized that even if he did remain in a defensive position, that if they attempted to capture him in his current state he would not be able to resist effectively. Sasuke walked over to the fire, as did everyone else. The only one's that remained standing were Kakashi and Yamato.

"So what's going on? Who's this opponent that ya keep talkin' about?" Kiba asked the Uchiha.

Sasuke took a breath "He's the man that slaughtered my clan."

Looks of confusion abounded in the circle of friends.

Naruto jumped up from his sitting position at this statement. "What?! I thought you said you killed Itachi?! He's the one that slaughtered your clan, right? You're not making any sense Sasuke!"

Sakura merely fixed Sasuke with a look of worry. Sasuke was with them, and not as an enemy. How could it be that after this many years and this much work that this was not a pleasant reunion?

Kakashi looked at his former student. This situation was becoming increasingly disturbing. "Sasuke, would you please explain what's going on?"

"When I was fighting Itachi I asked him some questions and he answered them." Everyone's eyes were riveted on the raven-haired boy. "He informed me that _he_ was not one who initiated the attack on our clan. He was simply being used. The one who was behind it is actually Uchiha Madara…" Sasuke's voice trailed off after that and everyone sat in silence attempting to register what they had just heard.

After several moments of silence, Naruto once again jumped up.

"So who is this Uchiha Madara? All we have to do is find him and kill him right?" Looks of pure astonishment from his friends met Naruto's eyes.

"What?"

Sakura hit Naruto in the back of the head knocking him to the ground courtesy of her strength. "How can you be so fucking stupid?! Was there even a day in the academy that you paid attention?!"

Everyone watched the occurrence with surprise and amusement. Despite the seriousness of this reunion it had become almost like old times.

"I still don't get it. Who is he?"

Kakashi merely put his hand on his forehead and decided it was best to clear things up for Naruto. "Uchiha Madara is the founder of the Uchiha clan and the original creator of the mangekyo sharingan. Which means that if he is behind this then he must be…"

"An immortal." Sasuke interrupted, "And with the power of the mangekyou sharingan he can control the powers of the kyuubi".

Once again the circle of friends dropped into silence.

"This is why I need your help. Even with the regenerative powers that I gained from Orochimaru I'm still no match for an immortal on my own."

Yamato was the first to speak up "So your brother said that there were ONLY three Uchihas including you and him left correct?"

"That's right. What are you getting at?" Sasuke looked at the man. "Since Itachi is dead that means that there should only be two sharingan users then, Kakashi aside, correct? So could that man in the orange mask that we fought earlier have been Uchiha Madara?"

Everyone looked at Yamato in surprise.

"In that case the Akatsuki are in league with an invincible immortal." Sai said bluntly.

Sasuke was shocked. He stood up slowly and then asked "You mean you guys have already faced Madara?!"

Naruto rose and placed his hands on Sasuke's shoulders in an attempt to ease his building anger. "It's ok Sasuke. He's gone but we can track him down again. Right Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked.

"It's possible," was the jounin's reply, "we have to try to track him down anyway. He's with Akatsuki, therefore we can't just let him go."

The situation was getting both more and less complicated at the same time. They were all after the same enemy now so on one hand that made things easier for everyone. At the same time though, they had found out that their enemy was an immortal, and not just any immortal. He was the founder of a once respectable clan and a man that had the power to control the strength of the kyuubi.

Kakashi looked at the group and spoke "I think that it'll be best for everyone if we continue resting. We can discuss this further in the morning. What everyone needs right now is a good rest and to build up their chakra."

Everyone agreed though Sasuke with the least expressed enthusiasm. Kiba settled down next to Akamaru with Hinata and Shino resting nearby. Sakura sat near the fire watching as Sai worked on another painting in order to take his mind off of things.

'Things sure are complicated when you have friends' Sai thought to himself.

Yamato and Kakashi had ascended back into the broken canopy to keep watch and to discuss the events that had transpired.

Naruto, who had been sitting near the fire, looked across the clearing at Sasuke who had himself propped up against a tree. Everyone else had since fallen asleep. Naruto stood up quietly and walked over to Sasuke.

"What is it usuratonkachi?" Sasuke deadpanned.

Naruto looked at Sasuke and wondered how he could still be so smug after the events that had occurred that night.

"Nothing."

"Then why did you come over here?"

Naruto sat down and leaned up against the tree and consequently Sasuke.

"Dunno."

Sasuke let out a sigh. "You truly are a dobe. I don't know why I even need your help."

Naruto looked at Sasuke and fought back the urge to punch him in the face for a comment like that but then realized that it was just Sasuke's way of saying thank you.

Naruto simply smiled and said, "I knew you would come to your senses and come back to us eventually Sasuke-teme."

"I never said that I was staying" Sasuke grumbled.

"Where else do you have to go? And besides, I already said that I wasn't going to let you go again."

The two stared at each other before looking away. They both settled against the tree and slowly slipped into unconsciousness.

Sai watched the two rivals in moderate confusion. What was it that made Sasuke so special? Naruto had spent years of his life tracking this guy, yet his efforts were completely unacknowledged by Sasuke. Sai was still unclear as to the concept of friendship.

He had refused to kill Sasuke in the past since Naruto shared a bond with him. He had made a decision at that moment that he would attempt to protect that bond in order to find out what it truly meant. Naruto and Sakura were his first friends so it was his job as a friend to do this. He still was not sure that Sasuke could be completely trusted. It was highly improbably that someone who had tried so hard to avoid them would suddenly decide to join them again.

What could his reasoning be? What could he be planning? How could Naruto still be so trusting of a man that had tried to kill him? He was falling asleep next to him for god's sake. Sai would have to be careful if he didn't want to see one of his few friends get hurt or even worse killed.

Sakura was watching Naruto and Sasuke as she lay on the ground. She knew that they could not see her watching since the glare of the fire would shield her eyes from their view.

Sasuke had come back, but for how long? How long would he be there with them until he decided that he had enough of them and deserted them again? Even though it felt like their mission had been accomplished, they still had a long way to go. Sakura couldn't imagine what Tsunade had planned for Sasuke if he did happen to come back to the village with them.

It was nice seeing those two back together again, and for once they were getting along. She smiled inwardly and allowed herself to drift of to sleep comforted by the warm flickering of the fire.

Yamato and Kakashi had been sitting in the branches of a tree keeping a lookout for intruders. Neither of them could resist watching the two rivals though.

"Kakashi-senpai, they really do share a special bond, don't they? So this is the one that Naruto has tried so hard to save and has risked his life in doing so."

"Yeah. Those two have been rivals for as long as I can remember. For awhile they considered each other to be family. Naruto has never stopped thinking that way, but it appears that Sasuke still might feel that way as well despite what he says" Kakashi replied. Kakashi watched the two and reminisced over the time that he had spent as the leader of Team 7.

Yamato interrupted Kakashi's thoughts with a barrage of questions, "So what do you think about this situation Kakashi-senpai? What should we do? Should we trust him? What should we tell hokage-sama?"

The silver-haired jounin replied, "I think that we can trust him. I don't have a feeling that he is lying to us. I believe that he is genuinely seeking out our help. I don't know how we're going to explain this to the godaime though. We were instructed to bring Sasuke back to the village for trial but we seem to be in the middle of an emergency at the moment. I guess the best thing we can do is let her know of our current situation but leave Sasuke-kun out of it for the time being."

Kakashi thought best to not mention to Yamato that he felt that Sasuke was still hiding something from them. He wasn't sure whether it was simply paranoia or if it was instinct founded or whether he should even act on it. He decided that he would watch Sasuke carefully just in case.

"Are you sure that will be a wise course of action?" Kakashi's reply was simply a nod.

The copy ninja wrote out a letter detailing their group's current location as well as the recent events that occurred. Kakashi did leave out the fact that Sasuke had joined their group. He said that their information regarding Uchiha Madara was given from an undisclosed source and that they were unable to reveal their identity. Kakashi performed a set of hand gestures and summoned his most faithful ninja dog.

"Now Pakun, I need you to take this letter directly to Tsunade. I shouldn't have to tell you that this is urgent information and needs to be delivered with great speed but also with great secrecy."

"I got it. Ya don't have to worry about a thing. I'll get it to her" was the pug's reply.

"Thank you Pakun." Kakashi said.

With that the nin dog disappeared into the approaching dawn.

* * *

AN: So yeah. what will happen? Will they find and destroy Madara? once again I have an idea but that may not be what actually happens cause these characters don't listen to me! so...be prepared! Wah!! Off to biochem! ZOOM! 


	4. Chapter 4

WAAAHHH!!! Fanfiction hates me! I deleted my previous authors note and now I don't remember what it said! ahh..anyway..chapter 4...I don't own Naruto...yeah

* * *

'How can Jiraiya do this to me? Dropping two bombshells on me in the same day!' Tsunade questioned mentally.

"You're sure that this message is correct?" the hokage asked the toad.

"Yes hokage-sama. Jiraiya etched the message himself. He was positive and felt that you needed to know."

Shizune looked at her master. She was obviously shaken and disturbed by whatever message Jiraiya sent for her. What could the hieroglyphs etched on the toad's back say?

"Tsunade-sama, what does the message say?" Shizune questioned.

Tsunade stared at her desk, thinking of what she should do. What was the best course of action to take in this situation?

"Tsunade-sama?"

"Dammit Shizune! Would you give me a moment to think!" the hokage yelled. Jumping up from her chair. Shizune jumped backward from the suddenness of her outburst. As Tsunade settled back down in her chair she rested her head on her hand.

"The situation with Akatsuki has become even more complicated as of now. Jiraiya has left us with some disturbing news and I don't feel that this is the time or the place to discuss this."

"But Tsunade-sama!"

"Don't question me Shizune! Now I want you to send messages to Iruka, Team Gai, and Shikamaru's squad immediately."

"But Tsunade-sama, Team Gai is currently on a mission and…"

"Shizune! This is urgent and I want you to do it now!"

"Yes Tsunade-sama!" The assistant ran out of the office in a hurry leaving the hokage and the toad alone.

"What are you going to do Hokage-sama?" the amphibian asked.

Tsunade sunk down into her seat again slouching in her chair. "I don't know."

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sasuke opened his eyes to a world of yellow. Naruto had slouched onto him in his sleep and was now sprawled across the raven-haired boy with his dandelion yellow hair in his face.

"What the hell?!" Sasuke yelled loudly while punching at the blonde hair that had invaded his personal space.

Naruto jumped up at the loud exclamation. "What's going on?" the blonde questioned loudly.

"You were sleeping on me you damn dobe!"

"Was not!" the orange-clad ninja yelled back.

The rest of the group woke up immediately due to the yelling and watched the spectacle in front of them. The two ninjas were standing up and glaring and each other menacingly inches from each other's faces. Sasuke regained composure first and simply stood back, placing his hand on his side.

"You wanna start a fight, usuratonkachi?" Sasuke inquired apathetically.

"Anywhere, anytime teme!"

A branch suddenly shot out of the ground separating the two rivals. They both turned and glared at Yamato who had his hand pressed to the ground indicating that he had been the one to summon the structure. "Calm down you two," he said, "we shouldn't be fighting amongst each other."

"Hmph. I'm going to go scout the area!" the blonde yelled and left in a huff.

Sai stood up and walked over to Sasuke. He was going to have some fun with this guy and damn the consequences.

Sasuke watched as the dark-haired boy approached him. What did this freak want? He put on a face of complete indifference, which wasn't very difficult for him after all.

"What is it?" Sasuke deadpanned.

"So you two slept together? Were you disappointed to find out that he didn't have a dick?" Sai asked while smiling.

Sakura and Kiba suddenly burst out laughing while Hinata blushed a bright red and attempted to cover her face. Shino simply coughed out of surprise. Sakura had know Sai for a while and should have been suspecting something like this from him but it still surprised her nonetheless that he would pull something like this so soon. But then again, Sai was a pretty unpredictable person. Kakashi and Yamato looked at each other. It was apparent to both of them that this wasn't going to end well for Sai if something wasn't done.

Sasuke faltered and his expressionless face suddenly became one of utter confusion and then rage. "What the fuck did you just say?!" Sasuke said as he began to draw a kunai from a pouch.

"It's ok Sasuke," Kakashi said calmingly, "This is just his personality. I don't believe that you two have met properly. This is Sai."

"Nice to meet Sasuke-kun." Sai said smiling.

"Whatever. Just don't fuck with me." Sasuke said while turning away.

"I wouldn't dare. That's Naruto's job after all," Sai said matter-of-factly.

Sasuke turned around and glared at the man, hoping to intimidate him with his sharingan but to no avail. What the hell was wrong with this guy? Was he gay or something. 'Never mind. I don't want to know.' Sasuke thought to himself. He turned around sharply and walked off into the sparse forest with a determined gait.

Sakura and the others could still not believe what they had just seen. It was just too funny. Never had any of them seen Sai insult someone so many times in a single session. What had surprised them even more was the fact that Sai had walked away with all of his limbs intact.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Naruto had been walking through the forest for a while now. 'Why is that teme always so quick to jump on me about things like this' he wondered. Naruto approached a slow moving stream that was lazily winding through the woods.

'This'll be a good place to take a break' Naruto thought as he flopped himself down next to a tree.

Naruto began throwing stones into the river. It was a peaceful day and the sun played happily on the surface of the water. Dragonflies danced among the foliage of the water plants and birds and insects sang from the trees.

Naruto was getting dreary eyed by the placidness of his surroundings. 'It would be nice if everything could stay this quiet,' he thought.

Naruto had been watching the various reflections that played off of the stream surface. All of them were blurry and difficult to make anything out of. He suddenly noticed that one of the reflections was new and did not fit in with the rest. Naruto turned around and his gaze was met by Sasuke's.

"I knew you'd probably be out here doing something pointless," Sasuke stated.

"It's not something pointless, I was just thinking is all."

"Hmph." Sasuke said while smirking

"What's so funny?"

"Just the thought of you thinking is quite amusing."

"That's it! I'm sick of this crap! What makes you think that you can come back to our group asking us for help yet acting like everything that went on these years never happened?! All the work that Sakura and I and even Kakashi, Yamato, and Sai put in to trying to find you, you don't even acknowledge it. I mean it's not like I'm expecting a thank you or anything, just some recognition."

Sasuke sighed. Talking to this idiot was always so difficult. No matter how many years passed Naruto was still a child but that didn't mean that he had to treat him like one. Sasuke walked up to Naruto and touched his friends shoulder and then sat down against the tree.

Naruto followed suit and sat down next to his rival crossing his arms as he leaned back against the tree.

Silence lingered in the air for several minutes before either of the rivals spoke. Naruto's voice was inevitably the first one to ring through the air.

"So why is it that you need our help? Don't you have your own team?"

Sasuke closed his eyes and said, "they're not my team. I'd rather ask you guys for help than rely on those three any day."

Naruto was happy to hear this coming directly from Sasuke. Sasuke really did want to be with them. Was there hope for him coming back to Konoha? Naruto had to keep his promise. He would bring Sasuke back to Konoha with him, no matter what.

"I knew that you wouldn't desert us forever… even though you DID try to kill me several times," Naruto said.

Sasuke looked at the bright-haired boy and merely released another sigh. It was impossible to explain anything deeper than that to a dobe like him.

The two ninjas remained resting against the tree, enjoying each others company while simultaneously managing to not piss each other off too much.

Sasuke's mind was in turmoil. What should he do? For some reason he was feeling guilty for not telling Naruto that he had the mangekyo sharingan. Sure he couldn't use it yet but he still had it and could potentially control Naruto. This shouldn't be bothering him! Months ago he had tried to kill Naruto but now he was feeling guilty cause he was keeping secrets from the idiot. 'What the hell is wrong with me?!'Sasuke thought.

"Naruto I have something…" Sasuke's words were cut short as the blond jumped up.

"We should spar!" Naruto said excitedly.

Sasuke was dumbfounded, "What?"

"Yeah, I mean we haven't sparred in years. It's been serious stuff since you left and you're the only one who can hold his own against me."

Sasuke thought. This could be his chance. He could test the mangekyou sharingan and see if he could activate it to take control of the kyuubi.

"Sure I guess, but I'm not going to take it easy on you just cause we're working together."

"You won't have to take it easy on me, but I might have hold back. I've gotten really strong you know" Naruto boasted.

"Bring it on dobe," Sasuke said as he took a fighting stance.

Naruto clasped his hands in the _hitsuji_ position readying himself to summon a clone.

The wind blew through the trees. Everything had gone silent except for the sound of the wind. The two opponents stared at each other, both waiting for the other to make the first move.

Inevitably Naruto was the one to make the first move. "Bunshin no jutsu!" he yelled as he summoned a single clone. Naruto and the duplicate ran forward toward Sasuke.

Sasuke smirked closing his eyes momentarily. The idiot was improving. He was focusing his attack on accuracy rather than simply overwhelming his opponent. It didn't matter, he was still going to win this. Sasuke opened his eyes, the dark colored replaced by his blood-red sharingan.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Pein and Tobi were seated in a dark room alone.

"What do you think of the recent events Pein?" Tobi asked.

Pein thought. This certainly was an interesting turn of events. Zetsu had tracked down Sasuke and had confirmed that he had indeed teamed back up with the Konoha ninjas.

"I think we are going to have to make a slight change of plans," Pein said.

He continued, "we still had a few jinchuuriki to gather but it seems that we are going to have to take down Itachi's target first since he has passed on and I doubt Kisame-san could take him on alone."

"I trust I can leave that to you then," Tobi replied.

Pein knew that this was going to be difficult but he was sure that he would be able to handle a handful of inadequate ninjas and a jinchuuriki, even if it was the kyuubi.

"Yes," was Pein's reply.

"Good. I will leave you to it then. Once you capture him, contact me and we'll extract the demon.

Pein simply nodded and walked out of the dark room. He walked outside, the sun beaming down brightly on the landscape. 'I'll have to leave a trail to a location that will favor me in this battle,' he thought to himself.

Konan sat upon a ledge watching her leader. What was it that Madara wanted out of them? It didn't really matter to her as long as Pein was safe. "I'll protect you. I promise I will find a way to save you, no matter what," Konan said softly.

* * *

AN: ummmm...yeah. Randomness from Naruto. I could see him doing something like that. Oh and I love Sai! YAYZ! PENIS! 


	5. Chapter 5

AN: Wow this was an interesting chapter. I apologize in advance for what happens in this chapter. Ummmm...yeah I'm kinda a twisted person but I think that this theory will work out well. ok real quick if for some reason you do not know what some vocab mean here's a quick key: katon no jutsu-Sasuke's fireball jutsu, bunshin no jutsu-clone jutsu, kage bunshin no jutsu-Naruto's shadow clone jutsu, and hitsuji-the first hand sign in the bunshin no jutsu. I just find it better to leave some things in their original Japanese.

* * *

Silence. It was one those things that Tsunade hated. The lull before disaster struck. The question was when was it going to strike and what would the consequences of her actions be. It had only been a couple days since she had received the devastating message. Would they really be able to stop what seemed to be the inevitable destruction of the hidden villages? 

Shizune opened the door of the hokage's office and quietly peeked in.

"Tsunade-sama, Iruka-sensei and Shikamaru's squad should be here momentarily."

"Good. Have them come in as soon as they get here. I need to speak with them immediately."

"Yes, Tsunade-sama. I'll go see if…" Shizune was cut short, as the door that she had propped open was suddenly forced open abruptly.

Iruka stood in the doorway obviously having run directly from the mission room after receiving the message.

"Tsunade-sama! What's going on? I received a message that it was urgent! Is Naruto in trouble?"

"Iruka-sensei, calm down this does not concern Naruto as of yet but it may soon if something is not done soon," Tsunade said.

"What's going on hokage-sama?"

"I haven't received any news of Team Kakashi or Kurenai's team so we will have to assume that they haven't encountered any difficulty but that they haven't accomplished their mission yet either. The problem at hand is that our situation with the Akatsuki has become even more serious."

"What do you mean?"

A scratching at the window of the office disrupted the meeting. The three ninjas looked at the window where Pakun was seated on the sill. Iruka rushed over to the window and let the pug in.

"Pakun, why are you here? I…is Kakashi ok? He isn't hurt is he?" Iruka asked, the worry obvious in his voice.

"Ya don't have to worry bout Kakashi. He can handle himself. But I do got a message from him for Tsunade." Pakun said.

'Great just what I need. With my luck this is not going to be good,' Tsunade thought.

"What's the message Pakun?"

"Right here hokage-sama," the pug said handing her a rolled up scroll.

The hokage took the scroll from Pakun and opened it. At least this one wasn't in code. 'That means it can't be too serious'.

"Shit," the hokage swore. She slumped into her chair again. 'How can my life get any worse?' she thought to herself.

"Tsunade-sama, what's wrong? What does the message say?" Shizune, who had stepped the rest of the way into the office, questioned.

"I can't handle this. We've just gone from being in the worst possible situation to a living hell," Tsunade said as she reached for a bottle of sake.

"Tsunade," Shizune said grabbing the bottle out of the hokage's grasp, "we don't have time for you to get yourself drunk. If the situation is this bad we need to solve it now!"

At that moment Shikamaru, Ino, and Chouji entered the office.

"You wanted to see us Hokage-sama? The message said it was urgent" Shikamaru looked at the hokage. She didn't look well. It was obvious that she was stressed. He could sense that this was going to be bad.

"I'm glad that you guys could come but now I'm not so sure that your help will even be of much use," the hokage stated plainly.

Once again, silence fell upon the gathered group. Everyone exchanged nervous glances. Eventually all eyes fell upon the hokage, who's eyes were fixed upon her desk.

"I guess I'll have to explain this eventually. Firstly I received a message from Jiraiya that was sent as a result of his death."

Looks of shock spread across the room.

"Wait, you mean the old perv who had been training Naruto?" Ino questioned. "Isn't he a sanin?"

"It gets worse. The one that killed him is the leader of the Akatsuki and also a former student of his." Tsunade took a deep breath and braced herself for what she was about to say. Everyone's eyes burned into her as their minds raced as to who could be so depraved as to murder their sensei.

"The leader of the Akatsuki is the Yondaime Hokage," Tsunade stated.

Gasps of shock erupted from the present ninjas.

"What!? Hokage-sama there must be some mistake. The yondaime died sealing the kyuubi. There's no way he could still be alive, let alone the leader of Akatsuki! It's insane to even consider that!" Iruka said.

Shizune had collapsed to her knees and began shaking uncontrollably. 'What was going wrong with this world?' she thought, 'how can something like this possibly happen? The fourth hokage, the leader of Akatsuki?!'

Shikamaru stepped forward and addressed the hokage. "Tsunade-sama, are you sure that the message was correct? I mean Jiraiya could be wrong."

"He wouldn't have sent me this dying message unless he was absolutely certain," Tsunade stated plainly.

"So what are we going to do hokage-same," Ino questioned.

"Well, I was going to have Shikamaru-kun, Chouji-kun, and you attempt to find Jiraiya's body but sadly this isn't the end of the bad news."

Confusion once again enveloped the group. What could be worse than finding out that your former hokage was actually the wicked leader of group of S-ranked criminals?

"I just received a message from Kakashi thanks to Pakun here that Teams Kakashi and Kurenai have made contact with an Akatsuki member who is none other than Uchiha Madara."

That's how things could get worse. Everyone was overwhelmed. Questions bubbled within everyone's heads but they were too overwhelmed to actually ask them. How could Uchiha Madara be an Akatsuki member? He was a founder of Konoha along with the first hokage, how could he still be alive? Many other questions swarmed amongst the minds of the ninjas. It was all just getting too complicated.

"Tsunade-sama," Iruka finally spoke up, "we need to send word to Naruto and the others to return to Konoha. There's no way that they can take on an opponent like this on their own. They'd be much safer…"

"You know that having them return would not do them or the village any good. The Akatsuki is after Naruto after all. The best we can do is send reinforcements until the Anbu can be organized and the village fortified," Tsunade informed.

"Shikamaru! Your team is to follow Pakun to their current location and aid them in any manner possible. Send message to me as soon as you make contact with them. As soon as team Gai arrives I will dispatch them to your area as well," Tsunade said firmly.

The three teammates looked at each other. This was going to possible be the most dangerous mission of their lives. Shikamaru thought to himself, 'will we really make it through this? We barely made it through our last encounter with the Akatsuki and this time it won't be just low raking members either. This is so troublesome.'

"Let's go ya guys. We gotta get to em before they get too far out of the area I left them at," Pakun said as he jumped off of Tsunade's desk.

The three ninja's bowed to the Godaime and exited the office led by the pug.

"I'm going to need your help organizing the village and getting any preparations needed," Tsunade began to address Shizune and Iruka. "Shizune, I need you to send a message to the Kazekage in Suna and let him know of our current situation. Let him know this does not simply involve our village but will most likely affect the entire lands. We will need his and his country's support. Also, I will need to know the moment that team Gai returns."

"Yes Tsunade-sama!" Shizune bowed to her master and left the room immediately.

"Iruka, I need you to go to the mission room and halt all mission that are outside of the city limits regardless of urgency. The situation we are in is top priority and we need every last able bodied ninja in Konoha in case we fall under attack."

"I'll take care of it Hokage-sama. Let me know if you need anything else," Iruka smiled weakly as he began to exit the room.

"Oh, and Iruka," the hokage began.

"Yes Tsunade-sama," Iruka said turning his head toward her.

"Don't worry about Kakashi. He'll make it back," she said with the first smile that had graced her face in days.

Iruka blushed slightly but upon realizing his complexion, turned away quickly, thanked the hokage and left.

Tsunade relaxed into her chair. Now was the waiting game. She had done her part. Now all that remained was to protect Konoha as best as she could and trust in Naruto and the rest of them.

The elderly toad had been sleeping under the hokage's desk despite the chaos that had occurred moments earlier and had just now awoken.

"Hokage-sama, I can lead a party to recover Jiraiya's body if you wish."

Tsunade frowned. It was still too hard for her to believe that Jiraiya was gone forever. No matter how much she hated to admit it, she had loved him. He had always been there for her, no matter how many times she had turned him down. A line of tears began to run down her face. She raised a hand to her face a brushed them away but they would not stop coming.

The toad decided it was best to leave her be for awhile. He would try later. He hopped back under the desk and resumed his rest.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"I'm gonna wipe that damn smirk off of your face once and for all!" Naruto yelled as he rushed forward towards Sasuke while forming a swirling ball of chakra with the aid of his clone.

"Rasengan!" Naruto launched his body forward at the Uchiha who was still standing in his original position.

Just as quickly as Naruto had attacked, Sasuke dodged. Naruto's rasengan caused a tree to splinter as he made contact with it.

Suddenly Sasuke was standing behind Naruto with a kunai to his throat.

"This was easier than I thought," Sasuke said. Realization suddenly appeared on the Uchiha's face.

"Damn!" Sasuke said as he stabbed the bunshin and jumped to the side. It hadn't been the real Naruto that had launched himself into a tree, merely a bunshin and now the real Naruto was launching himself in an attack to finish him.

'That was close,' Sasuke thought, 'I can't believe I fell for that.'

The two stood staring at each other once again

"What's wrong Sa-su-ke?" the blonde said drawing out Sasuke's name, "You actually fell for that one. I thought your training would have made you better than this."

Damn he hated it when the idiot did that. Naruto was the one person in this world that had a natural born talent for pissing him off.

"You just surprised me a little. I've never actually seen you think a move through before," the raven-haired boy said.

Naruto clenched his fist in anger. What was up with this 'holier than thou' attitude of his? Couldn't he just admit that he had been tricked?

"Damn you teme!" Naruto yelled as he ran forward his eyes beginning to transition from blue to red.

Sasuke smirked again. That was easier than he had thought it would be. All he had to do was keep pushing him and eventually Naruto would begin to release the kyuubi.

"Katon no jutsu!" Sasuke suddenly released a giant fireball aimed at the approaching Naruto.

Naruto was hit directly with the blast and was pushed backward forcefully plowing him into the forest.

Smoke ascended from the smoldering ground and vegetation. Naruto stood up slowly.

'Damn. How did one of Sasuke's lame-ass Uchiha jutsu managed to do this to me? Sasuke must've really improved his skills for his fire jutsu to be _this_ strong.'

Sasuke walked forward toward the smoldering forest. 'What an idiot, getting caught by that.'

Sasuke dropped to the ground narrowly missing being hit by several kunai that had gone soaring through the air.

'Guess that didn't take him down. Should have known.'

"You still alive in there dobe?" Sasuke asked.

"Course I am. You couldn't kill me if you tried. Oh wait you have tried, and look I'm still here!" Naruto said cockily.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

Sasuke was suddenly surrounded by well over a hundred bunshin.

"Shit," Sasuke swore.

'I guess I will have to resort to those jutsu after all,' Sasuke thought to himself.

* * *

AN: I feel really really horrible for burying Tsunade under all of that terrible news but it had to be done. OH NOEZ a cliffhanger! and yeah yondaime hokage is Pein ducks flying objects What will happen?! 


	6. Chapter 6

AN: Mlarg! SOOOOOOO Stressed. hate school, it's causing me to be yaoi deprived for the rest of the week. grrrrrr...anyway, new chapter obviously. Let me know what you think. Thanks to my senpai Saramoon for proofreading for me!

Naruto characters belong to Kishimoto, obviously, if they were mine...ooooh we don't want to go there. fantasizing about what she would make them do in the anime if the were hers

* * *

"Tsunade-sama! Team Gai…" Shizune barely had time to start her sentence when Maito Gai came plowing into the office followed closely by his prodigy Rock Lee. Tsunade watched, startled, as the two stopped abruptly in the center of her office. 

"Lee! You are in the springtime of your youth why did you fail to beat me here?" Gai said addressing his student.

"I'm sorry Gai-sensei!" Lee replied, "I have failed you! Please let me atone by doing extra laps around Konoha today!"

"If you two idiots are done, you'll remember that we came here from our mission for a reason, not just to race," Tenten said reprovingly as she entered the office followed by Neji.

"That's right! Tsunade-sama we finished our mission as soon as we received your news!" Gai said almost too enthusiastically.

"Yes Hokage-sama what is it that you need our youthful skills for?" Lee questioned just as equally enthusiastically.

'Idiots, why do I need to deal with idiots right now?' Tsunade questioned as she placed a hand to her forehead.

"Uhhh…" Tsunade said as she reclined in her chair, "I've sent Shikamaru's squad to catch up with Teams Kakashi and Kurenai. I want your team to assist them as well. Shikamaru's squad didn't leave too long ago so you might be able to catch up with them quickly if you…"

"Don't worry Tsunade-sama! I have the most youthful team there is! We'll be able to catch up to them in an instant!" Gai said ready to walk out the door.

"Hold it right there!" the hokage yelled, stopping Gai in his tracks, "I need to warn you that this mission will be very dangerous and you will be going up against elite members of Akatsuki. I will leave the rest of the explaining to Kakashi and Shikamaru. Together, they should be able to explain the situation. You're dismissed."

Gai and Lee bolted out of the door. Tenten and Neji watched as the two ran down the hallway. Why did they have to be teamed up with such strange ninjas?

Neji and Tenten bowed to the hokage and exited the office as well. Tenten looked at Neji. There was a look of obvious worry on his face.

"Don't worry. I'm sure that Hinata-chan is fine," Tenten said as she smiled at her teammate. She knew that he had a tendency to worry about her. Neji said nothing, but quickened his pace slightly.

Kotetsu and Izumo watched the team as they left the village, almost as quickly as they had entered a few moments ago. Soon the squad was on its way through the forest.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ino kicked at Chouji's foot. The ninja was reclining against a tree taking a break and eating.

"Why do you need another break you fat ass?" Ino was losing her patients. She hadn't had much to start with but Chouji was slowing them down. She looked to Shikamaru.

"What if we don't catch up to them?" she asked.

"We will, don't worry about it. Calm down a little bit. You're such a troublesome woman" Shikamaru replied.

Ino huffed loudly and sat down against a tree waiting for her teammate to be able to move on again.

"Ok Chouji, let's get moving," Shikamaru said.

The other ninja quickly obeyed standing up and following his comrades. The three began to run through the trees again, following the pug.

"Hey, Shikamaru. What do you think will happen? I mean, this could end really badly for us," Ino asked with concern in her voice.

Shikamaru looked at the girl and replied, "I'm not too sure. But I think that we're gonna have a good chance considering who we have on our side."

Ino knew that he was talking about Naruto. Yeah, so he was an idiot ninety eight percent of the time, but he was strong and dependable when it came down to it. The team continued in silence more or less.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The clones launched themselves at Sasuke. Sasuke didn't even make a move and buckled under the pressure of the clones on top of him. Sasuke's body suddenly deteriorated into a swarm of gray snakes each coiling around a clone causing it to disappear. Each snake took down a clone until there were only a few left. Sasuke stepped out of the shadows of the trees.

"Ready to give up yet?" he asked the whiskered boy.

"Like hell!" was Naruto's response.

"Let's make this a little more interesting then," Sasuke began.

Naruto looked at him inquisitively, "What do you mean?"

"I mean how about a bet. If you, by some act of god happen to win, I'll consider coming back to Konoha. If I win though, I'll do exactly as I want and leave after this whole thing is over" Sasuke finished.

Naruto smiled a sinister smile. "There's no way you're gonna win this!"

Naruto launched himself at Sasuke. The kyuubi's chakra flared and began to engulf Naruto even more extensively than before. Naruto rained a series of punches and kicks on Sasuke. Sasuke managed to dodge all of them thanks to his improved sharingan. The power of Itachi's eyes was indeed useful even if he could not yet unlock the powers of the mangekyo sharingan. Soon he would find out if he could though.

Sasuke could see it. The chakra around Naruto was forming a tail. His appearance was becoming more and more wicked. This was his chance. He just had to push him a little more. Sasuke pulled back his arm and began to focus chakra, a ball of electricity forming in his hand. Naruto saw what he was attempting and began forming his own mass of chakra, but this one into a swirling mass instead.

Both ninjas threw themselves at the same moment.

"Rasengan!"

"Chidori!"

The collision was monumental. Both of the rivals were thrown backward and went crashing through the trees in opposite directions.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sakura, Kiba, Shino, Kakashi, Yamato and Sai had been sitting together enjoying a late breakfast. Despite the circumstances it was relatively peaceful and it was nice to be able to rest for a few moments. It's not like they had any idea of where they were supposed to be heading anyway.

Sai was working on some more ink sketches while Sakura and Hinata watched intently from behind. His brushstrokes were so deliberate and precise. They could not help but marvel at his skill.

Kiba and Shino were relaxing against Akamaru. Both were content in enjoying the others company without saying anything.

Yamato and Kakashi were still discussing the events of the past evening and strategizing over what battle techniques would be most useful for them. Neither had really touched their food.

Suddenly a huge crash echoed through the forest. Birds flew in every direction, startled by the explosion.

"What's going on?" Sakura asked as everyone jumped to their feet.

"It sounds as if there might have been an explosion," Yamato stated.

"Well thanks captain states the obvious a lot," Kakashi said looking at his subordinate.

The group of ninjas rushed through the forest toward the source of the explosion.

They entered a clearing near a river several minutes later. Debris littered the ground and the forest in the immediate area was destroyed. What had happened here?

Through the rising smoke they saw two figures begin to emerge from opposite sides of the clearing. The two forms began to rush toward each other again.

"Naruto-kun!" Hinata yelled in a concerned voice.

Yamato rushed forward and erected a barrier between them. Kakashi, who had noticed Naruto's progression to his kyuubi possessed state ran forward and quickly placed a seal on him in order to suppress the kyuubi's chakra.

Sasuke was pissed. Just a little bit farther and he would have had it. He could feel it! He had almost unlocked the mangekyo but these losers had interrupted him.

Naruto had calmed down and was now physically back to normal.

Kakashi looked at the two rivals, "What do you guys think you were doing just now? Were you trying to draw attention to our location?"

Naruto looked at his sensei but then turned away quickly to avoid eye contact. "We were just sparring." He said guiltily as he kicked the soil.

Kiba spoke up, "Sparring? You call this sparring? This is almost at bad as the damage that we made fighting that Akatsuki and you call this sparring?!"

Shino held his partner back. There was no benefit in allowing Kiba to get involved in an argument.

"Naruto, are you ok?" Sakura walked up to Naruto and began to heal some of the major gashes that he had on his body. Once she had finished she walked over to Sasuke and attempted to take a look at his injuries but he pulled away quickly.

"They'll heal on their own," is all he said as he began to walk towards Naruto.

The group merely stood in the clearing for several minutes. They soon noticed the sound of someone approaching through the forest, quickly. They readied themselves for the approaching enemy.

Kakashi suddenly relaxed. "It's ok you guys, Pakun's with them. That means that the hokage's sent help."

Naruto and Sasuke looked at each other. When had Kakashi summoned Pakun?

Shikamaru and Ino entered the clearing led by Pakun. Chouji followed soon after.

"I've brought the reinforcements that the godaime wanted me to bring," said Pakun.

"Great job Pakun," Kakashi said as he formed the hand signs to release the summoning jutsu.

"Shikamaru! Look who came back!" Naruto yelled and pointed at Sasuke enthusiastically.

"Quit it dobe," Sasuke said and turned away from the blonde.

"AAAHHH! Don't act like that teme!" Naruto said as he tried to lighten the mood but only succeeding in irritating Sasuke.

"Leave me alone."

Shikamaru, Ino and Chouji looked at each other in confusion.

"Kakashi-san, what's going on? Why's Sasuke here?" Ino asked.

"Why don't we all go back to the camp and discuss things there," Yamato said leading the group back to their clearing in the woods.

The conglomerate of ninjas sat down in a circle around the burned out fire. Sasuke chose to remain outside of the circle and propped himself up against a tree instead. Naruto sat down next to him. He didn't want Sasuke to be acting all antisocial after all.

Yamato and Kakashi sat next to each other. To Kakashi's right was Sai, followed by Sakura, Ino, Shikamaru, Chouji, Hinata, Shino and Kiba with Akamaru lying next to him.

"I take it that the hokage told you about our situation?" Kakashi asked.

Shikamaru nodded, "yeah but she didn't say anything about that guy being here. Why is he here? What is going on Kakashi-sensei?"

"Well," Kakashi looked over at Sasuke. He didn't think that Sasuke had to explain things again so he'd handle it this time. "Sasuke managed to kill his brother but consequently found out that the actual one who initiated the attack on his clan was Uchiha Madara. Since, he doesn't feel confident in his abilities he has sought out our help to take down his opponent. This works out well for both of us since he is a member of Akatsuki so we'll be tracking him anyway."

Shikamaru thought. 'This is an interesting turn of events. I wonder what will happen if we do manage to take down Madara. I wonder…'

"Kakashi-sensei, have you heard the news that was sent by Jiraiya?"

Kakashi was intrigued, what news could be more important than what they were discussing at that moment?

"No I haven't. What was it?"

Everyone else in the circle was listening intently. Ino and Chouji had solemn looks plastered across their faces. This wasn't good.

Naruto and Sasuke were seated far enough away from the group that they couldn't hear what was being said.

"What do you think they're talking about?" Naruto asked.

"Probably about me."

"What makes you so special that they'd talk about you?" Naruto said jokingly.

"Uhhh…talking to you is so frustrating." Sasuke said as he slouched against the tree.

Back in the circle they were discussing the full magnitude of the situation. Things were looking very bad. It seemed like there was no safe way out of this for them.

Silence dominated the circle.

Kakashi was the first to speak. "I think that we shouldn't tell Naruto about this. It will obviously cause him great emotional stress. We don't want him releasing the kyuubi's power unnecessarily."

Everyone looked at the silver-haired jounin. How could they keep something like this from Naruto. Sakura looked over at her teammate. Sasuke and him were leaning close against a tree. They looked so happy, even Sasuke seemed happy to be by Naruto's side. Sakura wondered, 'how will this turn out? What will happen to those two? Their bond seems so pure and genuine, but it's different than before.' Sakura finally realized that their bond was more than just friendship. She wondered if they had realized yet. She sighed and resumed her part in the discussion.

Sai watched the pink-haired girl. She seemed to have been more depressed once she returned to the conversation than when the news of the yondaime being involved in the Akatsuki was dropped on them.

'Interesting,' he thought. He could tell that even if they did make it through this that things were going to be complicated for a while to come.

* * *

AN: Sakura figured it out before they did. Tee hee 


	7. Chapter 7

AN: Ok here's chapter 7! so yeah. Sorry I didn't post over Spring Break...it was spring break and I was working a lot and yeah. Once again I do NOT own Naruto or any of the characters! They belong to Kishimoto Masashi

On a completely different note... I got a new fish tank! It's 55 gallons and my Deidara puffer fish is all like ZOOOM!

* * *

The wind blew menacingly outside, sweeping massive amounts of sand across the landscape as it did so. Gaara was seated in his office when a messenger hawk landed in his office. 

"Hmmm…interesting," Gaara said as he reached for the message on the hawk. "Why didn't you go to the message room?"

The hawk merely looked at him and began preening itself. The hawk was one of the fastest messengers from Konoha and was only used for urgent messages. Gaara unsealed the message and read it over several times.

_'Honorable Kazekage-sama,_

_We have found ourselves in a situation with Akatsuki that I fear will possibly destroy the hidden villages as we know them. One of our sanin has been killed in battle simultaneously making a disturbing discovery regarding the leader of Akatsuki. During a retrieval mission, Naruto and his squad also encountered Akatsuki and made a shocking discovery. The threat of Akatsuki is not to be underestimated as two of the members are now known to be former leaders of our village that were supposedly dead. I am requesting that you send immediate back up to Naruto and his squad. Enclosed in this message is the approximate location of their squad. If reinforcements are sent now they should be able to reach them in just a couple days. I thank you for any support that can be given, and I pray that this will not end in disaster._

_Tsunade-Godaime Hokage'_

Gaara didn't know what was more disturbing, the fact that the fate of the villages could be in the hands of the group that had killed him or that one of his only friends was in danger. 

The red head sat brooding at his desk. He wouldn't be of much help even if he himself did go. He was still very limited in his ability to control sand. After almost an hour of intense brooding, the Kazekage decided that he would go even if he couldn't be of much help. It was much better than sitting around doing nothing.

Baki entered the office soon after Gaara had made his decision.

"What's wrong Kazekage-sama?" He asked cautiously.

"I'm leaving. The village of Konoha needs my help. Tell Temari and Kankuro to meet me at the main entrance in an hour."

Gaara stood up and walked out of the office not even waiting for Baki's reply, a behavior that was fairly typical of him.

Baki didn't know how to respond. What could be so important that Gaara himself had to go to Konoha's aid? He could tell by the Kazekage's demeanor that things were bad. He understood that he would have to organize the village in the Kazekage's absence and prepare for danger. He rushed off immediately to find the two siblings.

An hour later Kankuro, Temari, and Gaara were gathered at the main entrance of the village.

"What's going on Gaara? Why did we have to meet you here? Why do _you_ have to leave the village? I'm sure whatever it is, Kankuro and I can handle it on our own," Temari said.

Gaara simply fixed her with a glare. "Naruto's in trouble. I can't stay here and do nothing."

Kankuro knew that there was nothing that they could do to change their brother's mind since Naruto was one of the only people in the world that Gaara trusted and respected.

"Where are we off to then?" Kankuro asked.

"The Hokage has sent me Naruto's location. It should only take a couple days to get there." The Kazekage said in his usual monotone voice.

Temari sighed. "I guess we're going to have to go help them out then. Let's go," she said fastening her fan to her back and taking the lead.

Gaara gave a rare smirk that was almost a smile. He respected his sister. Despite the troubles that they had in the past, she was still there for him. He felt that with his siblings' support, they would be able to support Naruto no matter what. The "smile" that Gaara had given Temari made her swell with happiness. Gaara never smiled. This smirk was one of the few signs of happiness that he had ever shown and it made her feel proud that she could support him in his goal.

The three sand ninja walked out of the main gate and set off into the howling winds and sand of the desert.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"So it's decided," Kakashi said, "We'll wait at this camp until team Gai arrives, then we'll begin tracking the Akatsuki once more."

"In the meantime we can scout the area and see if we can detect any traces of the enemy," Yamato added. There was no point in wasting time even if they were remaining stationary.

"How long do you think it will take them to get here Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked.

"Hmmm…knowing Gai, they shouldn't take anymore than a day to get here. Actually, they'll probably be here by sunset," Kakashi said somewhat dreading his meeting with the green-clad ninja. Gai always came up with some challenge or another even if it was not the time to be goofing off.

"Oh and once again, no one say anything to Naruto about anything that we have discussed considering the Akatsuki," Kakashi added in.

"Kakashi-sensei," Shikamaru questioned, "I understand why we shouldn't let him know about Jiraiya-san but why do we need to keep Pein's identity a secret? Wouldn't it be better if he knew."

Kakashi paused. He couldn't tell them the real reason that he had for keeping the information from Naruto. Naruto was Minato's son after all. There was just something that felt wrong about the whole thing and something told him that Naruto shouldn't know. At this point even the jounin's mind was reeling with questions and doubts. How could be expect Naruto to be able to handle it if he couldn't?

'How can my former sensei be the one leading Akatsuki? Something doesn't feel right about this. The Minato that I knew would never be a part of this. But Jiraiya was sure and _he_ was Minato's sensei after all and knew him better than anyone.'

Yamato, sensing Kakashi's uneasiness, spoke up; "We have to look at it from Naruto's perspective. How would you feel if you found out that one of the greatest men of the village that you looked up to your entire life was actually trying to destroy the hidden villages?"

Everyone knew that what Yamato said was true. Naruto had such high aspirations to become hokage. How would he feel if he suddenly found out that one of them was actually the leader of Akatsuki?

The circle broke off and the group of ninjas went about doing various tasks. Sakura decided that now would be as good of a time as any to figure out what was going on for sure.

"Naruto! Come help me gather firewood!" She yelled across the camp while smiling and waving a hand in the air.

The blonde looked at the girl and then back to the raven-haired boy he was seated next too.

"Go ahead you like her don't you?" Sasuke said in a unpleasant tone, gesturing in Sakura's direction with his head.

Naruto stood up and walked off into the woods with Sakura. Something was different. Even Naruto could sense that she was depressed yet she put on a face of happiness.

"What's wrong Sakura-chan? What were they talking about? Is it bad?" Naruto questioned.

Oh why did she have to hide important things from him? Sakura inhaled and then began, "It's not really much worse off then before. Team Gai is on their way here so we're just going to hang back until they arrive."

"AH! You mean bushy brow and Neji are coming here too?! This is going to be one hell of a fight!" The blonde said, enthusiastically punching the air for emphasis.

Sakura sighed. Then again, maybe it wasn't going to be hard to hide information from him. 'He's too simple minded for this to be difficult,' Sakura thought.

"Naruto, the reason I asked you to come out here was that I wanted to talk to you about Sasuke," the teal-eyed girl began.

"Oh don't worry about him. He's fine and besides I don't think we need to worry about him turning on us or anything like that. He is Sasuke and a member of our team after all."

Sakura could see the admiration that sparkled in Naruto's eyes. There was no doubting it. What was she expecting to find out anyway? Her natural instincts as a woman had never misguided her in these matters before, why would they now?

Sakura led Naruto to a moss-covered log that seemed like a good place to sit down. They both sat on the decaying piece of wood in silence.

"I give up," Sakura said as she leaned back against a tree.

"Give up? Give up what?" Naruto said in a puzzled voice.

"I give up on Sasuke," Sakura said as she wrapped her hand around Naruto's hand, "and you." Sakura remained holding Naruto's hand as he blushed slightly. It was obvious that he had feelings for her as it had been for the past several years, but she knew that his feelings for Sasuke were much greater. Sakura let go of Naruto's hand and sat back.

"What do you mean Sakura-chan? You're not making any sense."

"I mean that there is no room for me between the two of you."

Naruto was utterly confused. What was she babbling about there not being any room for her? He did like her after all. Why would he have spent a good chunk of his life pursuing her affections if he didn't like her?

"Listen Naruto. I've been watching your bond with Sasuke-kun grow for years now. Even after he left for almost three years you two are still close and _you_ are acting as if nothing ever happened. What I'm trying to get to, is that I think that Sasuke sees you as more than a friend, rival, or even a brother. He loves you Naruto and I think that if you look inside yourself you'll see that you feel the same way about him."

Naruto was dumbfounded. Him and Sasuke? What the hell could he say to that? It was just too absurd.

"Sakura-chan I think you have it a little confused there. What makes you think that Sasuke likes me? I mean it doesn't make any sense"

"Don't act like you haven't noticed. I mean I've never even been able to get close to him but you, you are always clinging on him and he puts up with it! You're the only one that he ever lets get close to him."

Sakura looked into Naruto's eyes and what she saw was extreme confusion and turmoil. This was obviously going to take him awhile to sort through.

"Don't worry Naruto. Whatever happens, I'll support you guys," Sakura said encouragingly.

Naruto was still at a loss for words. Why couldn't he simply brush the idea of him and Sasuke off? He should have been able to simply disregard the idea and continue on with his life but for some reason he couldn't get it out of his head.

Naruto stood up and began to walk away. Sakura followed suit and simply followed the blonde back to the clearing. As they entered the clearing Naruto looked over to Sasuke who was seated in the exact spot as he had been when they left. Sasuke looked up at him causing Naruto to turn abruptly away.

Sasuke watched the blonde. What was his problem? What had _she_ said to make him look this upset, not that he cared or anything.

Naruto walked toward Kiba, Shino, and Hinata and joined them in working on some menial task. He glanced at Sasuke often. It was starting to piss the raven-haired boy off. What the hell was wrong with him? Why did he keep looking at him? Sasuke came up with the best solution his brain could offer. He activated his sharingan and simply glared at Naruto every time he looked his way. This however did not seem to deter the blonde and Sasuke eventually gave up resigning himself to merely sulking by the tree.

Sakura decided that she would attempt conversation with Sasuke. Maybe she could gather a bit more information on these two if she checked it out on both sides. In any event, she needed to let Sasuke know that she wasn't obsessed with him anymore and that she would support him.

Sasuke watched the pink haired girl approach him. Why do I need to put up with this girl? He decided that he would pretend to not notice her choosing instead to turn his attention toward a particularly interesting moss on the side of a tree.

"Can I sit down?" Sakura questioned.

"Like I care," was Sasuke's reply.

Sakura kneeled down next to him attempting to make eye contact but failing miserably.

"You know we are a team again. I think that you should at least try to not act so hateful to us Sasuke-kun."

"It's none of my concern how you guys feel about me," Sasuke deadpanned.

Here it was, an opening. "Not even Naruto?"

Sasuke felt as if was being provoked by this menace. "Of course, I don't care what that idiot thinks," Sasuke said as he shifted his position once again. He was starting to feel increasingly agitated by this conversation.

Sakura smiled. She had seen what she needed to see. She stood up and smiled at Sasuke. "Just don't let him get hurt ok."

"Che…" Sasuke said as he folded his arms in front of him.

Sakura had felt that she had done her part. Now all she had to do was see if either of them would act upon it. If she hadn't said anything who knows how long it would take for something to happen. They're both really slow on picking up on things like this. They were guys after all.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Pein was seated on the ledge of a cliff. He looked over the vast expanse in front of him. This place would work out for him. The terrain was something that he was used to. It was highly improbable that any of the Konoha ninjas were experienced in fighting in this environment.

Konan walked up behind him.

"How is everything going?" she asked.

"I have everything set up. The bait is in place and the trap is set. Everything is ready. Al we have to do is wait for the mice to take the bait," Pein responded.

Konan stood behind her leader. She wanted to wrap her arms around him and tell him that everything would be ok, but the circumstances did not allow for it. She settled for simply placing a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"Can we really trust Madara? I mean he could be misguiding us to suit his purpose." Konan questioned the orange-haired man.

"I'm not too sure. Even if he is using us to fulfill his own goals it doesn't matter. His goals will benefit us in the end," Pein said.

Konan knew that there was no point in raising anymore questions. The Yahiko that she knew was buried deep within this "Pein". She had already resolved at the beginning of this that she would free him no matter what it cost her, even if it was her own life.

* * *

AN: YAY NaruSasu! ummm...yeah...it'll get there. I love Sakura acting as an intermediate sort of person trying to hook them up. I'd probably do the same thing. hehe. Oh and if you don't know who Yahiko is, he's one of the three kids that Jiraiya trained. The three were Konan, Yahiko, and Nagato. I'm not going to say anymore than that because then I could confuse people...and possibly myself. 


	8. Chapter 8

AN: YAY CHAPTER 8. I'm dying. I fell off of Saramoon's horse Arianna and now I'm dying. God I still can't move my neck. Anyway enough pitying myself. I didn't re-read it so I don't know what grammar errors there are. If you find any let me know. other than that guess what! This chapter contains shounen-ai! YAYZ! first time writing it so let me know what ya think!

and stating the obvious Kishimoto owns Naruto and all characters.sadness

* * *

It was about an hour to sunset when the group noticed the approaching flow of chakra. They had been preparing a small dinner around the fire from various things scavenged from the woods and fish caught from the river, knowing that Gai and his team had probably not taken a break since they had left from Konoha. The team entered into the clearing. Gai and Lee were as energetic as always despite the fact that they had obviously been running nonstop and, despite their enthusiasm, were breathing heavily. Tenten and Neji arrived several seconds later, visibly exhausted but still managing to remain on two legs.

The newly arrived ninjas stood panting for several seconds before Gai approached Kakashi.

"So how is my greatest rival! " Gai said patting Kakashi on the back.

Kakashi looked at the spandex-clad ninja and despite having known Gai for so long could not help but wonder where he got all of his energy from.

Rock Lee spotted Sakura and immediately ran up to her.

"Sakura-san! How are you? It's been so long since we've seen each other?" he asked while blushing slightly with the pink-haired girl being so near to him.

Sakura felt uncomfortable. But then again, Lee had that effect on almost everyone. He was, hands down, one of the strangest ninjas in Konoha.

The meeting of the old friends was pleasant until the point when several people noticed that Neji and Tenten had their gazes fixed on a certain black-haired boy. The atmosphere went from one of a pleasant reunion to a dark and unbearable one. 

"What is he doing here?" Neji said with irritation and moderate confusion present in hiss voice.

Kakashi put his hand on his head. This would be the second time that he would have to explain this. He was getting pretty sick of summarizing the situation. 

Naruto who had been surprisingly quiet throughout the reunion suddenly jumped up after realizing what was going on and that this was no the time to be brooding over that bastard. He wasn't the type to brood after all. That was a certain bastard's specialty.

"We should all have dinner! Then we can talk after that!" the blonde said with great energy.

The brief meal had progressed with little talk. Much attention was fixed on the Uchiha despite random outbursts from Naruto which were attempts to lighten the gloomy and oppressive atmosphere.

"So how've you been bushy-brows? I haven't seen you Tenten and Neji since we left looking for Sasuke again." Naruto asked.

After Naruto's took the lead, other members of the group began conversations of their own. It had been so long since they had all been gathered together. Sasuke sat on the edge as he avoided taking part in any form of a discussion. The rest of the meal had proceeded in a fairly pleasant manner.

After dinner, Kakashi looked at the group of gathered shinobi around him. Why did he have to explain this again. He was getting rather sick of it. 'Oh, well. Not much I can do about it. But how can I get Naruto to leave without making him feel like he's unwanted?' he thought. 

Ah, he had it.

"Naruto can you and Sasuke do a perimeter sweep? Check around within a half-mile radius. That should be good enough," Kakashi said.

"But Kakashi-sensei…," Naruto began but was cut short as Sasuke stood up and began to walk toward the blonde.

"Let's just go," was all that was said by Sasuke.

Once Kakashi could tell that Naruto and Sasuke were out of hearing range, Kakashi began the long explanation of what had happened since their encounter with Uchiha Madara as well as everything that Tsunade had failed to explain to Team Gai.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Naruto and Sasuke moved through the forest in complete silence. Naruto was still contemplating what Sakura had said to him. Sasuke had been able to simply brush off what the pink menace had said assuming that it was just another one of the many stupid things the girl was prone to say.

'What if what Sakura-chan was saying is true. What if Sasuke does like me? But that's crazy. How can that teme ever have feeling for anyone but himself and his precious clan,' he thought to himself.

He was sure that Sakura was wrong but how could he find out for sure? A thought suddenly struck the blonde. Most likely this would get him killed. He cringed inwardly at the thought of what could happen as a result of what he was about to do. 

"Hey! Sasuke, I think I hear something down there," Naruto said as he gestured toward the forest floor.

The raven-haired boy looked in the direction that Naruto had indicated. He didn't sense anything. He doubted that the idiot could sense anything that he couldn't. Maybe the dobe had sensed something using the kyuubi's power. He decided that it was best to investigate. Even if there was nothing there, it was better safe then sorry.

Sasuke landed on a tree branch and dropped down to the ground, making sure to keep hidden. It wasn't relatively easy considering that it was night and he had the sharingan on his side. Sasuke stood with his back against a tree and a kunai in his hand. He scanned the area. He didn't see anything. Sasuke slowly moved away from the tree. 

'What had Naruto sensed? Speaking of the idiot, where was…'

Sasuke suddenly found himself pushed up against a tree. Naruto had a hand on his pale chest and the other on the tree trunk, next to Sasuke's head.

Confusion enveloped Sasuke's mind but rage quickly took over mingled with another unfamiliar emotion.

"What the hell are you doing dobe!" Sasuke yelled at the whiskered boy.

Naruto remained silent keeping his head lowered with his eyes to the ground.

"Answer me!" Sasuke demanded.

Naruto's response was to raise his head and meet Sasuke's eyes with a fierce stare that made Sasuke feel as if he was most definitely not the one who was in control. Naruto continued to maintain eye contact while moving his face dangerously close to Sasuke's.

Sasuke's mind was racing. What was going on? Why did Naruto have him cornered like this? Sasuke felt weak. He didn't like this position that he was in but part of him was telling him that this is what he had been waiting for.

Suddenly Naruto moved in, capturing Sasuke's lips with his. Sasuke struggled momentarily as Naruto had expected, but what happened next surprised them both. Sasuke opened his moth allowing his and Naruto's breath to mingle.

Sasuke couldn't believe that he was allowing the idiot to do this to him. But damn, it felt so good that he couldn't help but give in to him.

Naruto had not expected Sasuke to give in to him like this. This plan was supposed to backfire miserably and end in Sasuke trying to rip his head off. Why was Sasuke giving in to him, he wondered. Soon though, all previous thoughts of 'why' left his mind and he was consumed with what was happening in that moment. This was so radically different from the first time. It felt right. 

Naruto moved his that had been placed on the tree into Sasuke's hair, gripping the dark locks in his hand. Sasuke let out a noise that was muffled by Naruto's mouth. Sasuke had long since dropped the kunai that he had been gripping and now had his arms placed on Naruto's back and grasping at the black and orange jumpsuit. 

The two ninjas kissed deeply and passionately. They both were secretly wondering why it had taken them so long to get to this point. What had been keeping them from doing this the whole time? A thought nibbled at the back of Naruto's mind. Sakura had been right. He did like Sasuke and by Sasuke's current position, Naruto safely assumed that he felt the same way.

Sasuke suddenly felt the presence of an approaching chakra. He pushed the blonde off of him abruptly, his senses and composure returned to him quickly, replacing the euphoria that had previously been enveloping him.

Sasuke drew his katana that had been on his back and held Naruto against the tree.

"What's going…," Naruto began but was cut short as Sasuke clamped his pale hand over his mouth.

Naruto realized then that they were not alone. The two quickly moved into the canopy and sat waiting for the interlopers to show themselves. Soon, a group of about a dozen men appeared. They seemed to carrying a large quantity of possessions with them. Naruto and Sasuke looked at each other. These men were ninjas yes but they were also thieves most likely returning from pillaging a village. 

"They're going to come upon our camp soon if we don't do something," Naruto whispered to Sasuke.

"Then all we need to do is dispose of them," Sasuke said as he pulled several shuriken from a pouch.

"Sasuke, we can't just kill them like that! They're human too," the blonde said.

"Well we can't just let them get to the camp. Kakashi would take them down immediately, so what's the difference if he does it or we do it?" Sasuke questioned.

Naruto said nothing and simply nodded in agreement. 

"Suppress you're chakra as much as you can until you need it. I'll go and attack from the other side. You'll know the sign to attack when you see it. Just don't get hurt," Sasuke said. With that, he disappeared into the foliage. Naruto sat and waited.

One of the ninjas suddenly went down with a shuriken lodged in his temple. Naruto assumed that this was the sign. He formed several hand seals and summoned several clones simultaneously jumping down into the group of confused men.

It had barely been half a minute before all of the thieves lay dead in the forest. It had been quite pathetic especially since they barely put up a fight. Sasuke and Naruto examined the bodies. They were from the Hidden Sound village. 

"God, why does this village cause us so much trouble!" Naruto questioned loudly.

Naruto moved his arm and realized that there was a kunai embedded in his shoulder. How had that gotten there he wondered.

Sasuke had walked over to him and placed his hand on the weapon.

"Here," he said as he gingerly pulled the kunai out of Naruto's flesh. Sasuke then proceeded to rip a piece of his sleeve off and wrap it around the wound.

"Sasuke, you don't need to do that. It'll heal quick enough," Naruto said as he grabbed Sasuke's hand.

Both of the ninjas blushed at the contact, both suddenly recalling what had just happened minutes earlier. Shit, this was bad. The two of them looked away from each other to avoid eye contact. How could they have let that happen?

The two began to walk back in silence while maintaining a watchful eye on their surroundings for more intruders. They would occasionally glance at each other but when they caught each other's eyes they would immediately look away. 

Naruto spoke up as the two walked. "Sasuke, I…"

"I don't wan to talk about it. Besides we're almost back at the camp.

Sakura looked up from the group as she watched Naruto and Sasuke approach. She immediately noticed the blood that stained Sasuke's white outfit and the bandage that was wrapped around Naruto's shoulder.

She jumped up immediately. "Naruto! Sasuke-kun!" she said as she ran over to them. "What happened to you guys? Are you ok?" she questioned.

"Yeah, we're ok Sakura-chan. We just found a group of sound ninjas, but Sasuke and I took care of it."

The group looked at the two ninjas. They had just finished discussing the matters concerning Akatsuki, Jiraiya's death, and Sasuke's current position. Thing certainly were confusing. Naruto and Sasuke sat down on the logs that were placed by the fire. Kakashi looked at them. He wondered what was really going on. They both seemed bothered by something and he doubted that it was simply due to killing some generic random ninjas that they didn't know. Sakura had noticed the same thing as Kakashi. Her curiosity was at an all time high. Something had happened. She could sense it, but what had happened she didn't know.

The rest of the night consisted of casual conversation followed by sleep. Sakura had been talking to Ino, Hinata, and Tenten about her theory involving Naruto and Sasuke. Ino was temporarily angered by the fact that Sakura would ever consider the idea of her beloved Sasuke ever being involved with Naruto. Hinata blushed deeply simply at the thought of Naruto. Tenten had no response. Sakura was eventually able to ease them into the idea and soon all three of them were giggling over the idea and discussing other various typical girl topics. 

"I think that Neji likes you Hinata," Ino said gesturing toward longhaired Hyuuga.

Hinata blushed at the idea. 

"I think that Ino has something there Hinata-chan," Tenten said. "Have you ever seen how he watches you. You should have seen the concern on his face when he heard that you could be in trouble."

The girls continued to discuss similar topics while the guys sat in a different circle and merely watched as the female ninjas laughed and talked. They instead decided to discuss the problem at hand. Sasuke had once again moved off to a tree on the outside of the clearing. Naruto had decided to once again join his rival on the outskirts of the group. 

Sasuke looked away as Naruto sat down next to him.

"Stay away from me dobe," Sasuke said.

Naruto chose to ignore the statement and sat down next to him.

"I didn't mean to do what I did. I didn't think that you'd act like you did either. I just wanted to see if what Sakura-chan said was true and…" 

"What!" Sasuke had cut Naruto off. That pink haired girl was the root of this! Sasuke was pissed. He felt as if he had been deceived and tricked. Even more, he felt as if he had made a fool of himself. Sasuke decided that instead of proceeding and killing the idiot and the menace, that he would simply settle for brooding angrily. 

Naruto watched Sasuke. Crap, he had pissed him off. Had he said the wrong thing?

"That's quite a mouth you got on you there though teme," Naruto said jokingly not taking the hint that Sasuke didn't want to talk about that incident.

Sasuke gave Naruto a death glare. "If you ever say anything to anybody. I'll kill you then I'll bring you back and kill you again."

Naruto paled slightly. He felt as if somehow that wasn't just an empty threat. 

The rest of the night passed on uneventfully. Yamato and Kakashi took shifts in the night watch while the others slept.

* * *

AN:EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! Oh Sasuke's angry. Will Naruto and him work it out? Will Naruto ever stop being an idiot? Will they admit their love for each other? Tune in next time to find out! 


	9. Chapter 9

AN: So ummm yeah. NaruSasu smexing in this chapter. Kind of. I still don't own Naruto. Who else read the new Naruto chapter? It was so crazy, random and anticlimactic.

* * *

It was about an hour before dawn and not even the birds and insects of the forest had begun to stir. Yet there was movement in the forest. The Konoha ninjas were up and preparing for their departure. Today was the day that they resumed their hunt for the Akatsuki. They figured that it shouldn't be too hard once they started looking. They did have one of the Jinchuuriki with them after all.

"We want to make sure that we stay in teams," Kakashi began. "We have no idea how strong the remaining members are."

"We'll split up into several groups." Yamato continued, "Teams Gai and Kurenai will compose the first team, Shikamaru's squad will be the second, Kakashi-senpai, Sakura and Sai will make up the third, and the last will be composed of Naruto-kun, Sasuke-kun and myself."

Sasuke glared at Naruto.

"Why do I have to be with him?" Sasuke asked.

Naruto stared at Sasuke. Why was he so pissed at him? He had apologized, isn't that what he wanted?

"You two have always worked well as a pair. You've both grown even stronger. There's no reason for you to not be partners. Unless there's something wrong?" Kakashi inquired raising an eyebrow.

"No. Nothing at all," Sasuke said in an irritated tone.

"Good. Then we'll head out as soon as we erase our tracks to keep anyone from following us." Kakashi said as he stood up.

The group hurried up and cleared the forest of their traces and began preparing for their departure.

"Kakashi, we have these radios," Gai said pointing to the short wave radio and microphone that was fastened to his head. "Each group should be able to hold onto one. That way we can split up in the forest," The green-clad ninja said as he handed three sets to Kakashi.

"This will help out quite a bit," Kakashi said as he adjusted one of the radios around his ear.

He handed sets to Yamato and Shikamaru.

"Needless to say you two will be the heads of your squads," the silver-haired jounin said.

"Understood," the two said taking the radios from the jounin.

"Ok. We'll all head out. Keep your groups at least fifty meters apart. Stay in contact. Keep an eye out for any signs that could be linked with Akatsuki. We'll regroup around mid-day to take a quick break. No one take any breaks until then. We need to cover as much distance as possible if we're going to track the Akatsuki down," Yamato said as he adjusted his head set.

The other shinobi nodded in agreement.

"Let's move then. Run forward with the power of your youth!" Gai said exuberantly.

Then ninjas launched themselves into the treetops and began to move quickly watching for any sign of their enemies that could show up at any second, as they had been known to do.

The groups moved swiftly and silently through the forest as their training had taught them to.

Naruto and Sasuke didn't say a single word to each other. Whenever eye contact was made, Sasuke would show his anger towards the blonde by fixing him with an intense glare.

'Why does Naruto have to be such an idiot?' Sasuke asked himself. He had always loved Naruto. Ever since they were young Sasuke had felt something towards him. He's the reason that he had never allowed anyone else to get close to him. He had always counted on Naruto being the one to come forward and say something, but he hadn't. Naruto hadn't stopped chasing him after all these years, that had to mean something right?

Yamato could sense the intense emotions that were emanating from the two ninjas. Neither of them was even attempting to hide it. Yamato reassured himself. 'They're friends. They won't kill each other. I hope.'

"This is Konoha's green beast. If everyone can hear me, there's a river up ahead in our direction. We should be able to take a break. It seems empty so we shouldn't be bothered," Gai said over the radio.

"Got it Gai," Kakashi said into his speaker.

Kakashi looked at Sakura and Sai. "We're stopping at a river up ahead to take a break. We need to make it quick though."

Sakura and Sai both nodded. Water was too burdensome to carry so they hadn't drunk anything since early that morning. It would be nice to stop and refresh themselves.

The four groups met up at the river. It was actually more like a creek but water was water.

"We've seen a few signs in the area that we were traveling that could have been left by Akatsuki, but I think it could be a trap," Yamato said.

Naruto was sick of this. Sasuke hadn't talked to him the whole time they were traveling and had only made eye contact to glare at him. He walked over to the raven-haired boy who was bent over by the creek.

"Ok. What the hell is up with you?" he said addressing the Uchiha.

Sasuke looked at the blonde with annoyance. "Why do you care? It's not like it matters to you."

Sasuke returned to scooping water out of the creek with his hands. He could feel that he was about to lose it. This idiot just kept pushing him.

"I just don't get you?! I apologized! What else could you want teme?" Naruto said angrily.

Sasuke exploded right back at Naruto causing the blonde to stumble backward slightly. "That's the problem! You don't understand! You've never understood me! You haven't changed for three years. I told you before and you still just don't get it! You didn't understand my feelings then and you still don't!"

Sasuke could feel eyes on him. The whole group had paused what they were doing to watch what was conspiring between the two rivals.

Sakura jumped up to intervene. This was bad. Sasuke looked like he was ready to tear Naruto to shreds. She grabbed onto Sasuke's arm to try and calm him down.

"Sasuke-kun you shou…" Sakura's sentence was cut short.

"Don't touch me," Sasuke said as he pulled his arm out of the pink-haired girl's grasp.

Sasuke grabbed Naruto by the shoulder unexpectedly and dragged him off into the forest quickly.

"What the fuck was that about?" Kiba said as he looked at the others in confusion.

"Should we stop them? I mean they could hurt each other," Hinata piped up.

Sakura looked off into the forest with concern.

"No," she said, "I think they need to work something out on their own."

'Hmmmmm,' Kakashi thought. This was getting interesting. Was something finally happening between those two? 'It looks like I might end up winning that bet that Iruka and I had after all,' Kakashi mused to himself as he smiled inwardly thinking about the brown-haired sensei back in Konoha. (Meanwhile, said brown-haired sensei, whom had been seated in the missions room, sneezed.)

"Sasuke what are you doing?" Naruto said as he yanked himself out of Sasuke's hold, "Why did we leave the others and what is your problem?"

"You! You're my problem you idiot! You piss me off so much I can't handle it anymore!" Sasuke yelled. He had completely lost any control that he had over his anger.

"Why are you mad at me anyway? I mean, I already apologized!" the blonde yelled back.

"I already told you that you apologizing was the problem! Did you ever stop to think that maybe I wanted that?" Sasuke blurted. Crap he had said way too much.

"Wait. What? You mean…" Naruto stumbled over what to say.

"Yeah," Sasuke sighed. He was regaining some composure and was mentally kicking himself for what he had just said. "Why else do you think that I let you hang around me? You're the one person in this world that manages to piss me off to no end yet I've let you get closer to me than anyone else. Why do you think that is Naruto?"

"You mean since way back then? Why didn't you ever say anything? Why did you leave Konoha then?"

"Idiot. Why would I ever tell you something like that? Besides, I always thought that you'd be the one to make the first move but you were always too obsessed with that useless girl. I left Konoha because I didn't want to get you involved in my problems. I had to deal with Itachi before I could do anything else," Sasuke said as he put his hand to his forehead. Sasuke's head was hurting. Every part of him was screaming at him to stop telling Naruto all these things, but Sasuke had become sick of holding it in.

Naruto's mind was once again in turmoil. Things weren't supposed to be like this. Sasuke was supposed to be the cool, calm and collected one, not the one pulling stuff like this. Part of him was happy beyond belief but the other part just needed time to think

"We should really get back to the group so that we can get moving again," Naruto said as he began to turn around.

Sasuke was not going to let this moment escape him. Naruto was not going to get away from him this time. He was full aware of the fact that they could die once they encountered Madara. If he didn't do something now that there may not be another chance.

Sasuke reached out and grabbed Naruto by the back of his jumpsuit, turning him around and pulling him down into a kiss. All previous thoughts of returning to the camp left Naruto's mind at that moment. He became lost in the contact between his and Sasuke's lips. Naruto wrapped his arms around Sasuke's waist and pulled him close.

Sasuke pulled away from Naruto momentarily, long enough to whisper "usuratonkachi" in his ear. The word was laden with want and desire. The name that Sasuke had just for Naruto had changed from an insult in Naruto's mind to the best thing that Sasuke had ever said to him.

Naruto lunged back at Sasuke and captured his lips in his once again. The two grasped at each other's hair and clothing and eventually found themselves lying on the ground. When that had happened, neither of them knew, but that didn't really matter right now. They kissed deeply, allowing their saliva and their breaths to mix. As they kissed Naruto began clawing at Sasuke's shirt, removing the light fabric with little difficulty. Sasuke on the other hand began tugging at the offensive orange jumpsuit in an attempt to remove it from the blonde.

Naruto rolled himself on top of the half-dressed Uchiha. The blonde began running his hands along Sasuke's muscular torso enjoying the feeling of the heated flesh beneath him. He pulled himself away from the dark-haired boy's lips and began to kiss and bite at Sasuke's neck. Sasuke couldn't help but let out a pathetic noise that was half way between a squeak and a whine. Had Sasuke had any of his senses in his control he would never have let Naruto on top of him, but damn his pride and damn his composure, this is what he had been waiting years for.

Naruto looked at the bow tied around Sasuke's waist. 'That has to be the next thing to go,' he thought. Naruto began to pull at the offensive object that was knotted around the Uchiha. The bow put up no resistance and was promptly removed from him and discarded.

"Naruto…" Sasuke gasped as he clawed at the blonde's shirtless back. Naruto had always managed to break down the barriers that Sasuke had put up for other people. He had always approached his friendship with Sasuke the same way he brandished his declaration that he would someday be Hokage -- with a determination and a bull-headed refusal to consider any other possibilities. Now Naruto was breaking down another barrier within Sasuke. Sasuke's body was filled with an overwhelming heat and a want for more.

"Sasuke," Naruto said in a low growl. The sound of his voice sent chills running down Sasuke's back. It was ragged and animalistic which only increased Sasuke's want for the blonde.

Naruto returned to Sasuke's lips, pushing his tongue deep into the raven-haired boy's mouth. Naruto could feel the kyuubi's chakra flaring inside of him. The intense emotions were stirring the kyuubi and causing him to awaken. The red chakra was increasing the temperature of his already heated body.

"An Uchiha huh?" the kyuubi's amused voice echoed inside of Naruto's head.

Naruto blocked the voice from his mind and began to remove the remainder of Sasuke's light outfit. Naruto pressed his heated body against Sasuke's, causing the Uchiha's hips to arch upward. Sasuke had already told him that he loved him, now it was his turn to show Sasuke that he felt the same way. He was not going to screw things up this time. The blonde began trailing kisses down Sasuke's chest and toward his growing erection.

"You know someone's coming don't you," the kyuubi asked in an insidious voice as he chuckled.

Naruto froze momentarily. It felt as if he had been hit by a snowstorm, the ice covering the fire that had been previously engulfing his body. 'Shit,' Naruto swore to himself. His senses were slowly returning to him. He raised his body off of Sasuke's abruptly.

"Naruto…what're you…" Sasuke began to say in a confused voice.

"Someone's coming," Naruto whispered.

It took several moments for Sasuke's brain to process what that meant. Sasuke swore colorfully. Naruto began to move off of Sasuke but too late. They suddenly found themselves under the stare of Sai. The dark-haired boy stared at the scene in his view, fixed in his current position. Naruto was perched, shirtless atop a completely naked Uchiha. Sai had a look on his face that wasn't one of disgust or even embarrassment but simply a look of curiosity. So this is what one did when sharing a bond with another? Wow, did he have a lot to learn.

Naruto and Sasuke were frozen under the stare of the black-haired ninja. He wasn't saying anything. He wasn't doing anything. He was just standing there.

If that hadn't been awkward enough, Sakura entered the scene abruptly.

"Sai! I told you not to…." Sakura's sentence was cut short as she looked at the sight in front of her. Sai's gaze was fixed on something that she had never even hoped to see in her entire life.

Naruto had moved himself off of Sasuke and was attempting to put his jumpsuit back on while Sasuke was simultaneously trying to locate his pants and his shirt.

Sakura blushed deeply as she turned away quickly. She pulled Sai along with her and they quickly rushed back through the forest to the group. They were getting along better than she had planned. Inner Sakura was rejoicing at the sight she had just seen. "Oh my God! Naruto was on top of Sasuke! My mission is accomplished! KYAAA!! God they were hot!" It then occurred to her that Sai and her had interrupted that. It was then that she began to feel extremely embarrassed.

Naruto stood up and tried to get Sakura's attention before she left but Sasuke stopped him.

"Let her go," Sasuke said as he pulled on his shirt and fastened his bow around his waist.

"But what if she tells them?" Naruto asked in a worried tone.

Dread sunk in and soaked Sasuke to the bone. Crap. He'd never live this down if that girl said anything, and what about that Sai guy. Sasuke was sure that he would get harassed for this. He'd never be able to rebuild the image that he had spent so long building up.

The two began to walk back to the creek. Naruto leaned in against Sasuke.

"I don't care if anyone finds out," the blonde said as he stroked Sasuke's dark hair.

"That's because you're a dobe," Sasuke said as he blushed slightly.

* * *

AN: yeah let me know what you think. I hate classes. I get bogged down with stuff from there and don't have time todo stuff that I want. Like play smash brothers. I had to work 5-12 yesterday (Sat) and am now playing super smash brothers until I have to work at 6:00 AM (sun) yeah no sleep in between. YAYZ lack of sleep!


	10. Chapter 10

AN: Sorry for the delay in posting this. Exams were hectic for school and then classes ended a couple weeks ago and I got distracted with a lot of other things and was completely lacking in motivation to write. I finished this the other day and yeah. Enjoy!...I hope. Let me know what you think! and once again naruto and everyone else belong to Kishimoto...not me...sadly...yeah.

* * *

The two began to walk back to the creek. Naruto leaned in against Sasuke.

"I don't care if anyone finds out," the blonde said as he stroked Sasuke's dark hair.

"That's because you're a dobe," Sasuke said as he blushed slightly. He was still flustered from what they had been doing in the forest and was having trouble calming himself down. He was sure that Naruto was having a similar problem. He struggled with the thoughts that were running through his head. Part of him wanted to pull Naruto close to him and finish what they had started. Reason though, told him that they should head back to the river and get moving.

'What am I going to do if we both don't make it through this? What if Naruto…' Sasuke thought to himself. For once he was having doubts about going into a battle. Fighting had always seemed so straight forward, but this time he actually felt like there was something to lose and that feeling made him very uneasy.

Naruto was leaning close against Sasuke as they walked. Sasuke seemed deep in thought and Naruto hesitated to disturb him. What would have happened if Sai and Sakura hadn't disturbed them?

'Would I really have done _that_ to Sasuke?' Naruto wondered. It didn't take him long to realize that yes, yes he would have. Sasuke had always seemed so distant from him, but just a few moments ago the Uchiha was opening himself to the blonde in a way that he never thought possible. The cool Uchiha composure had melted before his eyes and the best part was that he was the cause of it.

'Does that make us lovers?' Naruto blushed at the thought that had appeared in his head. He shook his head furiously in order to rid the thought from his mind, causing Sasuke to become aware of the outside world once again.

"What are you doing?" Sasuke questioned in a semi-irritated tone.

"Nothing," Naruto said, "just thinking…you know, about us."

Sasuke looked at the blonde. When had his illogical attraction to this idiot begun anyway? He couldn't remember a distinct moment and soon pushed the thought out of his mind. What mattered now was that they knew that they were important to each other. They had to get through this, together. But what about his resolve to never set foot in Konoha again. Sasuke's expression hardened at the thought of returning to that village. What would happen if he did return there? No doubt he would in the very least be shunned. Most likely he would be killed.

--

Kisame walked over to Suigetsu's dead body. The brat had been a tougher opponent than he had ever imagined. He hadn't wanted to fight in the first place but what else can you do when someone attacks you? Now he was injured. Injured and severely chakra depleted. He had to get away and get back to Itachi.

Kisame looked at Karin and Jugo and promptly took off at the fastest speed he could muster. Karin and Jugo rushed over to their downed teammate and attempted to wake him, but to no avail. Karin stood up. He was dead, not that she really cared but now they were one fewer in number. That idiot had done it to himself after all.

"Come on Jugo. Let's go teach him about what happens when you mess with Team Hebi," Karin said as she readied herself.

The two remaining members rushed off into the forest after the Akatsuki member, both intent upon killing him. It wouldn't be that hard considering what Suigetsu had done to him.

--

Sasuke's thoughts were interrupted as the two emerged from the foliage of the forest clearing by the river where everyone had gathered. They were met by the collective staring of the entire group. Sakura was blushing an advanced shade of red as she attempted to avoid making eye contact with them. Kakashi watched the two and smiled knowingly. Yeah, he had won the bet. They two were obviously trying to hide it but the looks that they both had on their faces gave them away immediately. Kiba looked at the two shinobi that had just entered the area. It was obvious to him that what Sakura had said was true.

"Way to go Naruto!" Kiba shouted at the blonde.

Naruto barely managed to control the red color that was attempting to fill his face. Kiba had never really learned that some things were best left unsaid in order to avoid awkward situations. Not that Naruto himself was great at that either, but this situation was definitely one in which idiots should keep their mouths shut.

"What are you shouting about mutt?" Sasuke said challengingly. He was going to protect his dignity in this no matter what. He was an Uchiha after all.

Kiba sniggered as he looked over Sasuke. "Oh nothing. I just never thought I'd see the day when the proud Uchiha Sasuke got topped. Let alone by Naruto of all people." Kiba said as he shrugged.

Dignity rejected. Sasuke glared at Kiba but then realization suddenly dawned on him. It wasn't Kiba that was the source of the problem. He turned suddenly to face the pink-haired girl who was still blushing madly and began to walk toward her.

"I'm sorry Sasuke-kun. I was just talking to Ino and then Kiba overheard and…" Sakura began trying to explain herself to the enraged boy.

Naruto rushed over and grabbed Sasuke by the shoulder quickly.

"Sasuke! You can't hurt her! She's a member of our team. And she's our friend!" Naruto complained.

'Dammit! Why is this idiot right?!' Sasuke thought.

If he injured her there was no way that he could stay with the group. He would never be able to regain their trust. He resisted the urge to pull out a kunai and jam it into her just to teach her a lesson, instead turning away only to be met by stares from the rest of the group. Everyone that had been staring at the two realized this and immediately began occupying themselves with other tasks and preparing for departure once again.

Hinata looked at Sasuke and Naruto. She kept telling herself that she was happy for Naruto, that since this is what he wanted that she should be happy but seeing that what Sakura had said was true caused her heart to ache so much. Hinata sighed audibly a turned away.

"Hey did they really, well you know?" Shikamaru whispered to Ino.

"Yeah I don't think Sakura was lying," she replied as she looked at the two boys standing closely to each other. God she hated it when Sakura was right.

"Man! Those two are so troublesome," Shikamaru said in an annoyed tone. Just what they needed, more complications.

Naruto and Sasuke were sticking close to each other as they got water. For some reason it just didn't seem to be safe if they were apart. Neither of them really felt like being cornered and questioned at this point..

Neji on the other hand didn't care if they were together or not. He had been bothered by Sasuke's sudden appearance and apparent change of heart from the very beginning and still did not trust him. His rational side told him not to make a scene but that side is not the one that won out. Neji walked over to Naruto at a determined pace and caught the blonde's attention with a well placed smack to the back of the head.

Naruto began turning around. "What the hell was that for…Neji? Why'd you do that?"

An expression of anger was clear on Neji's face.

"You're my problem! You and that damn attitude of yours," Neji said in an indignant voice.

"What do you mean by that? What did I do?" whined Naruto.

Neji grabbed onto Naruto's shoulder and proceeded to tell Naruto exactly what he had done to anger him.

"You're too trusting! That's your problem. Sasuke just shows up out of the blue and you automatically accept him without the least bit of wariness. And even more than that, so does the whole group just because _you _trust him! Sure some of them have their doubts but they're all ready to let him fight with us just because you trust him. You even went off into the woods and did who knows what with him! It makes me sick! What kind of hokage would you be when you just let a known enemy join our forces?!"

Naruto was lost for words. He looked down at the ground searching for a response. Neji was right. What kind of hokage would he be if he just trusted enemies so easily? But Sasuke wasn't an enemy. He trusted him. They were friends. Why couldn't Neji just trust in his decision?

Precipitately, Sasuke pushed Neji's hand off of Naruto and pulled the blonde toward him.

"A damn good one," Sasuke said in confident voice.

"Sasuke," Naruto said in a thankful yet still confused voice.

Sasuke looked at the blonde and showed a slight smile. Naruto looked at him and smiled back.

"You say you're Naruto's friend yet you doubt his decisions. How can he ever become hokage if he knows that even his friends doubt him?" Sasuke said as he glared at the Hyuuga.

"You can't even talk!" Neji exploded back at the raven-haired boy. "You abandoned our village to go off with Orochimaru. You tried to kill Naruto! How trustworthy can you be?"

Tension was rising in the air and could be felt by all the ninjas that had stopped to watch the clash of the two blood-line limit possessors. No one dared say anything for fear of escalating the argument.

"I trust him," Naruto said as he stepped out of Sasuke's hold. "I know that he abandoned us and deserted Konoha and even tried to kill me. People change though Neji. You're proof of that yourself. And, look at Gaara! He wanted to kill all of us and now he's the Kazekage. Sasuke wouldn't betray us, not again. I'd put my life on that. That means you should be able to trust him too."

Neji sighed. Naruto was right to some extent but that didn't mean that he wasn't going to watch Sasuke just in case of the likely event that Naruto was wrong. Neji turned around and left the two standing there without a word.

Lee looked at his teammate and then at Naruto and Sasuke. He was thoroughly confused. He hadn't noticed when Sai and Sakura had returned and missed the apparently critical news that Sakura had said.

Yamato, sensing that most of the tension had faded out of the air, proceeded to speak.

"Ok everyone, let's get moving. We'll all follow the trail that was found earlier. Keep your groups close but still spread out. We don't want to attract any unwanted attention."

The groups assembled began leaping up into the trees. Kakashi held Naruto back.

"What is it Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto questioned.

Kakashi smirked, though Naruto could not tell because of the mask the jounin was wearing. Kakashi put his hand on top of the blonde's head.

"If you ever have any questions about "techniques", I can tell you about a few good ones that I use with Iruka-sensei," Kakashi said in a cheerful voice.

Naruto stared at his sensei with a quizzical look, but then it dawned on him exactly what his sensei meant by that and his brain imploded upon itself.

"Wha..wh…what?? you mean y..y..you and Iruka-sensei…." The blonde stuttered comically.

"Yeah but don't be too loud about it Naruto. Not many people know about it besides us and the Godaime. You can't hide anything from that woman. Anyway let's get moving shall we?" the silver-haired jounin said as he jumped up into the treetops.

Naruto remained in his position, unable to move. That was way too much information. Naruto jumped up into the canopy to see Sasuke standing there waiting.

"What did Kakashi-sensei want?" Sasuke asked uncaringly.

"Nothing. He just wanted to uh…uh…we need to get going," Naruto said, hurrying along.

"Che. Whatever," Sasuke said as he followed the blonde through the trees.

--

A considerable amount of time had passed and Kisame was still being pursued by Karin and Jugo. What was he going to do? Kisame suddenly felt something that made him stop momentarily. He felt a large chakra presence moving nearby but it wasn't the large mass that caused him to stop, it was the familiar chakra that he sensed that did. Kisame grimaced. So Itachi had been killed. Sasuke was still alive. But why was he with this group?

'So Itachi's goal has been realized. His brother is safe and undoubtedly now possesses Itachi-san's sharingan, just like he wanted. I wonder if Itachi-san told Sasuke the truth in the end,' Kisame sighed as he thought to himself.

Kisame thought better than to push his luck and moved quickly to arc around the group.

'I'm far too injured at this point to deal with this,' Kisame thought.

He had just made it to the point where he could barely sense the group's chakra. His skills in chakra detection were far greater than most ninjas, so he was sure that they could not sense him. Kisame stopped moving when he felt Karin and Jugo's chakra continue to follow the large group instead of his.

"Hmmph. Easier than I thought," Kisame said aloud.

Kisame moved more slowly now, knowing that he was out of immediate danger. Besides, he wasn't quite sure where he was going. Kisame looked forward into the woods and what he saw was a hologram forming, a hologram of none other than Pein.

The hologram looked at him with Pein's usual deadpan look.

"Seems you've had some trouble," Pein said.

Kisame made no attempt to reply while avoiding making eye contact with the flickering image.

"Kisame-san, I need you to meet me in the canyons that lie to the west of our secondary base. We may need your assistance in the capture of the kyuubi jinchuuriki," the hologram said.

"Yes, Pein-sama," Kisame said as he bowed slightly.

The hologram flickered out of existence. Kisame hadn't bothered to question Pein as to the circumstances of Itachi's death. He knew that there would be time for that to be explained later.

"Is our organization falling apart or what? It's down to just the few of us,' Kisame thought.

The injured Akatsuki resumed heading in his original path. Kisame realized that it was rather convenient that he had initially been moving in this direction. It would have been an even greater strain on his already damaged body.

Several more hours had passed uneventfully as Kisame continued moving through the trees of the forest choosing to walk on the ground instead of moving through the canopy. He started as he heard the sound of snapping branches as he dodged the wind that was rushing toward him. Someone was there. How had he failed to notice them? Was he really that chakra depleted that he couldn't even sense its flow anymore? They already knew he was there. He had no other choice than to face them with the strength he had and hope that he made it out alive. Ha, that was wishful hoping.

'At least I'll take them down with me,' Kisame thought. Kisame looked to his left in the direction that voices were emanating from.

"Gaara, You were right! There's someone over there," Temari said to her brother.

"I saw him. He was wearing a cloak with red clouds. He's from Akatsuki no doubt," Kankuro stated.

Gaara failed to feel any anger toward that statement. Though he should be feeling nothing but hatred toward the group for attacking his village and killing him, they had in some way done him a favor. He no longer suffered under the influence of Shukaku. It had been hell though trying to regain even a small fraction of his former power, and here presented to him was a perfect opportunity to test that hard-earned power.

--

Karin stopped abruptly in front of Jugo causing him to stumble and stop as well.

"What is it Karin?" he asked, wondering why she had stopped the pursuit of their prey. She had a look of confusion on her face that perplexed him.

"I feel Sasuke's chakra," she said aloud, "and he's with others."

'But why is he with a group? And I sense the chakra of those ninjas that were pursuing us before Sasuke went off to fight Itachi. Did they capture him?' Karin thought to herself.

Jugo spoke aloud what Karin had been thinking, "Do you think he's been captured?"

"I don't know, but we're going to find out," Karin said as she ran ahead.

--

"Naruto!" Yamato yelled as the blonde dodged a kunai that flew by just a few millimeters from the boy's head and embedded itself in a nearby tree. The group of ninjas dropped down to the forest floor and stood waiting for whoever it was that had attempted to ambush them.

Sasuke activated his sharingan and looked into the forest. He could sense the movement of chakra. Not just any chakra though, it was that of his former team Hebi.

"Dammit," Sasuke swore.

Naruto looked at his comrade with a confused expression.

"Sasuke, what is it?" he asked.

"It's my old team, the ones that I was with when I was pursuing Itachi. Just stay back and let me deal with them," Sasuke said as he pushed Naruto behind him.

Karin and Jugo stepped into view of the group. Karin's scanned the entire group of ninjas quickly and then rested her gaze upon Sasuke who was standing coolly next an aggravated-looking blonde.

"Sasuke-kun? What the hell is going on here?! Who are all these people?" She questioned loudly in frustration.

Sasuke remained silent but walked toward the dumbfounded girl and her companion. He soon stood in front of her, his red eyes holding contact with hers.

She looked at him. There was something different in his eyes but she couldn't place it. Something had changed. She drew a kunai but too slowly. She saw the change in Sasuke's eyes immediately but reacted far too slowly. The eyes staring at her were those of someone who possessed the mangekyou sharingan, not Sasuke's normal sharingan.

* * *

AN: sorry about the double cliffhanger-ish ending. Yeah. I am more motivated to write though so hopefully this next chapter will come faster if my senpai keeps me motivated.


	11. Chapter 11

* * *

  


AN: OK finally here is chapter 11. My senpai and I finally sat down and she worked on her ghost hunt chapter and I worked on this chapter until we both had finished so here it is. Find any mistakes let me know. If anything doesn't make sense let me know and yeah obviously Naruto does not belong to me it belongs to Masashi Kishimoto. If you don't know that by now you're kinda a moron.

* * *

Tsunade looked at the corpse that had been presented to her. Several toads had managed to bring the body of the Pein that Jiraiya had managed to kill. The Godaime had been busy analyzing the said body for a good chunk of time now and what she was finding was both confusing and disturbing. She had now spent countless hours alone in one of the operation rooms with the body and she was becoming rather frustrated.

This body was no normal human body. Although the body itself was indeed a single person, Tsunade had been able to discover that there were actually two distinct chakra residues left in the body. In other words, there were two separate entities residing within the same physical body. Two distinct beings but mixed. Whether or not they had continued to have two distinct minds was a different question.

The Godaime slumped down in a chair near the table where the corpse lay. How had Pein done it? She knew of only one other person that was able to transfer souls into other bodies but that method was more of a replacement than an addition method. Like Orochimaru's technique, this was obviously a forbidden jutsu. How had Pein managed to fuse two beings into the same body and keep both of them intact?

Why had he done it? Unless… Could abilities and be transferred along with the soul? If so that could be an explanation as to why Pein is so powerful? Each body being a fusion of two different people with different chakra types and jutsus?

Tsunade rubbed her forehead. This was getting far too complicated and it was all simply speculation on her part at any rate. Yet, this could explain how Pein could be the Yondaime.

Tsunade spoke aloud to herself, "It's possible that Minato is Pein and no longer himself."

The creation of _Pein _may be the fusion of two minds into one with neither retaining memory of ever being separate. How sad she thought.

Tsunade stood up and walked toward the plain white door. She stuck her head out and spoke to one of the passing assistants and told them to move the body to its storage room. That was enough of working on that today. She already had enough to think about.

--

Gaara dodged quickly to the left as Kisame's Samehada came down on the ground next to him. Although visibly exhausted, this Akatsuki was still putting up a bigger fight than Gaara had planned on.

Temari and Kankuro simply watched as their brother fought. They knew that it was best if they did not interfere with this battle. This was a battle for Gaara's pride. It was his first time battling an actual opponent since the Shukaku had been removed from him and as such was a real test of his current abilities. But as it was, few of Gaara's attacks had actually hit because of the absorption powers that the Samehada possessed. The Samehada was able to immobilize any sand that Gaara attacked Kisame with since it was able to absorb the chakra that was infused within the sand thus making it into useless sand once again.

Temari thought of how she could aid her brother without stealing Gaara's victory from him. She had absolute confidence that Gaara could defeat this opponent but they needed to catch up to Naruto and time was already not on their side.

Temari gripped her fan and prepared to attack. She swung in an arc and sent a gust of razor sharp wind directly toward Kisame. Kisame saw the attack coming and raised his sword to block. Gaara saw instantly the opening his sister had given him and attacked. He forced a massive quantity of sand onto Kisame's body, constricting him and causing him to drop his sword. Kisame gasped as sand worked its way completely up his body crushing his bones. This was the end. He could feel it. He didn't have his sword, there was no way out of this for him. He closed his eyes and thought of how this must be punishment for everything he had done as one of the seven swordsmen. His only regret was that he would not be able to see Itachi's goal be realized.

"Sand Coffin," Gaara said as he crushed the life out of Kisame's body. The redhead slowly released his grip on the motionless body and pulled his sand back into his gourd. Temari rushed over to her brother.

"Gaara! Are you ok?" she said as she grasped onto his shoulder.

"I'm fine. Thank you Temari," he said as he smiled lightly. As little as he actually thanked her, Temari was always watching out for him and working to protect him even though in his mind it was not completely necessary.

"We should get moving you guys," Kankuro said.

The three sand ninjas continued moving through the forest toward where they were assuming Naruto's group was headed.

--

The world was swirling around Karin. Everything had transformed into a dark gossamer fog that threatened to envelop her in complete darkness. What was this? She turned around looking frantically about her for signs of life. What had happened to everyone? Where was she?

'What was up with Sasuke's eyes?' she wondered.

Realization struck. That was the infamous mangekyou sharingan that Sasuke had told her that his brother had possessed. But how had he managed to obtain it? A form started to approach her through the fog. She stood and watched. Suddenly Sasuke emerged from the tendrils of the dark fog.

"Sasuke! What is all this?! How did you get that sharingan?! Why are you doing this?" She yelled at him.

He just stared at her coldly. The iciness of his stare made it impossible to move or speak. He slowly drew his katana from his back and in one quick motion thrust it through her chest.

He pulled the weapon out of her body agonizingly slowly and allowed her body to slump to the ground.

Karin sat clutching at the wound and staring at the blood that was pouring out of her body and onto her hands. How could this have happened?

Sasuke looked at her. "I no longer have a use for you," he said without the slightest indication of emotion in his voice.

The illusion slowly faded back to reality and Karin stared at where the wound had been. She wasn't bleeding anymore. She looked over at Jugo who was lying face down on the ground, dead. She looked up and was met by Sasuke, whose eyes had faded back to their ebony black.

She could see her reflection in his eyes. Her face was pale and completely drained of color. Then she felt just as in the illusion, she felt cold steel impale her and then the feeling of hot blood falling out of her body as the sword was pulled away.

The last thing she saw, as her world faded to black, were the confused looks of the unfamiliar faces around her and the blonde boy clinging onto Sasuke with a concerned look.

"Sasuke! What the hell!? Why did you just kill them like that?" Naruto yelled into Sasuke's face.

"I didn't want them getting in the way. They were the enemy. They would only have created problems for us and we would have ended up fighting them anyway," Sasuke said apathetically.

Everyone else remained silent. They had all noticed that something was not right. Sasuke's former teammates hadn't even put up a fight. Moreover they had simply collapsed onto the ground being under apparent mental torment until Sasuke had killed them.

Kakashi stared at Sasuke. It was unmistakable to him. Sasuke had the mangekyo sharingan. That damn technique that he himself had been subjected to in the past by Itachi. How had he managed to achieve it though?

Kakashi walked over to Sasuke and pushed Naruto out of the raven-haired boy's face.

"Leave him alone Naruto. I think that Sasuke-kun will explain his logic for this situation when he's ready to," Kakashi said as he looked at his stoic former student.

Naruto relaxed and stared at Sasuke angstily. Something was wrong, even he could tell that much. But what was wrong he didn't know. He was afraid to try prying him for information for fear of pissing him off but as someone important to him, didn't Sasuke have an obligation to tell him?

Kakashi watched as Sasuke began moving back to the treetops along with everyone else. Now was not the time to confront Sasuke. But when would the time be? They were about to engage in an epic battle. Sasuke could be hiding something important from them. What if he was planning on turning on them? He would have to discuss this with Yamato on the way.

--

Zetsu phased his body partially through the trunk of a nearby tree as he watched the Konoha shinobi pass by him. He continued to follow the ninjas through the treetops. It was not difficult to keep himself hidden considering that he was a master of masking himself as well as his chakra.

He had witnessed the entire event that had occurred with the former Team Hebi and was considerable intrigued by the occurrence.

He abandoned his following of the Konoha group and quickly used his teleportation jutsu to make his way back to the canyon lands where Pein was. He phased through the rock wall near the rinnegan possessor within moments of departing from the forests.

"How far away are they Zetsu?" Pein questioned. He was getting anxious as he waited. The wait before a battle was unbearable for him. Besides, this battle would be the final one before he unleashed his plan against Madara. If all went well he would have that man out of his way soon.

"They are only a couple of hours away at best. They should be arriving within range shortly."

"Good," Pein said shortly as walked away from Zetsu, his cloak waving gently in the breeze.

--

The forest was beginning to thin and the ground was shifting to a composition of sand instead of rich forest soil. Naruto could feel the kyuubi becoming anxious inside of him. This was it. They were getting closer to their enemy and he felt it. Things were about to go to hell and he knew it. Naruto looked at Sasuke as they jumped down from the tree canopy to the rocky terrain below. Sasuke's look was blank and expressionless. Why was Sasuke acting so distant right now? Naruto had thought that they had finally closed the gap between them but at this moment he felt further away from him than ever before.

Kakashi and Yamato stopped up ahead. They had been discussing Kakashi's suspicions quietly on the journey but now that they felt that it was time to pause before getting too far into this unfamiliar terrain.

Kakashi held his hand out signaling everyone else to stop as well.

"Ok everyone I just want to make sure that everyone has a clear idea of our plan," Kakashi stated.

Shikamaru raised his hand into the air and spoke.

"What plan exactly would that be Kakashi-sensei? We haven't really discussed a plan. We've just been following a trail."

Everyone looked at the silver-haired jounin who looked rather annoyed.

"I was about to get to that," he said plainly.

"I want everyone to stay with their teams. You've all trained in your current teams so you know how to work with each other best. But I'd like to change things just slightly. Team Kurenai, Team Gai and Shikamaru's squad will all remain the same. Sakura you're the only one trained in medical ninjutsu so I want you and Sai to stick together and hang back. If you get injured there won't be anyone to patch the rest of us up is something goes wrong. Yamato and I will work together as a team since we have in the past. Naruto and Sasuke, I want you two to work together."

Everyone nodded understandingly and began moving forward. Kakashi signaled to Sasuke that he wanted to talk to him. Sasuke approached his former sensei reluctantly.

"Sasuke, I assume you know about Naruto's link with the Kyuubi. You must be able to sense it with that sharingan of yours."

Sasuke startled just slightly at the mention of his sharingan. How had he expected Kakashi to not notice the cause of the behavior of his previous teammates?

Kakashi raised his visible eye slightly at this response.

"I want you to watch for any changes in Naruto. If you perceive that he's going to lose control, I want you to alert Yamato and I at once so that we can suppress it. He becomes a danger for himself and everyone around him when he enters that state. I know you of all people don't want to see him get hurt. Can you do that Sasuke-kun?"

"Yes sensei," Sasuke replied solemnly. Of course he didn't want to see Naruto get hurt.

"Good. Now let's move."

"I won't let him get hurt. I will protect him, even if it costs me my life," Sasuke muttered quietly to himself as he followed to catch up with the group.

* * *

AN: So what did you think? What will happen? Will Sasuke really be able to protect his lover? Anyway thanks again to my senpai and beta reader Saramoon! Now excuse me while I go Caramelldanse!


	12. Chapter 12

AN: Here's chapter 12! It was interesting writing this. Let me know what you think. Thanks to my senpai for beta reading this for me and fixing all my stupid mistakes. Oh and Please don't kill me!

Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto obviously.

* * *

Pein looked from his perch atop a cliff out over the horizon at the approaching Konoha shinobi. Now was the time. He had to launch his strike now or else his plan would not succeed. He turned around and summoned his remaining four bodies. Damn that Jiraiya for having destroyed one of them. Though it didn't matter now. He could still exact his plan without it.

"It's time that we show them the power of a god," Pein spoke to all of his bodies.

"Follow my lead." He would rely on what the Konoha group did first to gauge what his move would be. "Konan, avoid the main conflict for a while. I don't want you getting involved unless you have to," he said as he began to lead the others down the cliff without once looking at her.

Konan blushed slightly. It was the rare moments like these that reminded her of her goal and managed to keep her from giving up. The Yahiko that she loved was still alive somewhere within Pein and it showed through the occasional kind gesture that he showed her. She resolved that she would watch the battle and wait until she could execute her own plan. It would be risky but in her mind it was well worth that risk.

Zetsu watched as the Peins departed. He knew that Pein was planning something but his loyalties lied neither to Pein nor to Madara so it did not matter to him who lived or died. The information he gathered for them and transferred merely served as a way to entertain his time.

--

"Sasuke!"

Sasuke turned around and glared at the blonde running toward him that had shouted his name.

"Shhhh. What are you doing you dobe? We're in enemy territory. You can't just go yelling for me every time you get a little behind."

The two had stopped behind a large rock and Naruto appeared as if he had something that was weighing his mind down.

Sasuke sighed. "What is it?"

"It's just. Well…um…do you hate me?" The blonde mumbled out.

"Hate you?" Sasuke questioned. "Why would I…"

"It's just that ever since we ran into your old team you've been really short with me and I just feel really far away from you, like there's a wall between us or something," Naruto said forlornly as he stared at the sand beneath him.

Sasuke looked at the angst-ridden teen in front of him. Just the sight of seeing him like that caused his heart to ache. How could Naruto think that he hated him? He was just trying to avoid burdening Naruto with something useless that's all.

Sasuke lifted Naruto's gaze from the ground by raising his head with one pale hand and brushing his golden locks from his face with the other.

"Sasuke?" Naruto said in a confused tone.

The raven-haired boy softly pressed his lips against Naruto's giving him a quick kiss. He leaned his forehead against Naruto's and continued speaking to him quietly.

"I don't hate you dobe. You're the most important person in this world to me. Yeah, you annoy me to no end but I don't just put up with you because I have to," Sasuke paused and looked deep into Naruto's eyes before continuing, "I love you Naruto and I don't want you worrying over stupid little things and making wrong assumptions."

Naruto simply stared into the large black eyes that had his gaze captured within them. Sasuke was not lying to him. His eyes told him that he was completely honest about this. Naruto smiled a large grin while blinking his eyes closed.

"Hehe. I never thought you'd say something like that to me. It makes me happy Sasuke," Naruto paused and returned Sasuke's stare, "to know that you feel the same way that I do."

Naruto wrapped his arms around Sasuke's neck as the two stood there lost in each other's embrace. Naruto released his grasp on Sasuke and took a step backward.

"Now let's go win this!" Naruto said enthusiastically.

Sasuke smirked and nodded in agreement. They would get through this. They would succeed in defeating Madara and Pein and would save Konoha from this threat. For the first time since this whole ordeal had started Sasuke felt like there was no way they could lose.

The two were startled by the sudden sound of weapons clashing. They ran on ahead quickly to the group. They had engaged in battle already and Sasuke and Naruto had not been there, This was bad. The two rushed forward in an attempt to jump in and join but were quickly stopped by someone that had moved into their path. Pein was standing directly in front of them.

"You!" Naruto shouted as he began to form a rasengan in his hands. He didn't know who this person was but he was wearing one of those cloaks so he could not be good.

Naruto lunged at Pein simultaneously launching his rasengan. Pein simply dodged slightly to the side and avoided the attack all together causing Naruto to go crashing into the side of the enclosed canyon they were in.

"You thought you could hit me with that?" Pein said mockingly.

Sasuke stared at the opponent coolly with his activated sharingan. There was something strange about this person's chakra.

Pein returned the icy gaze. "I'm here to capture that jinchuuriki. If you stand in my way, I will not hesitate to kill you Uchiha Sasuke."

Sasuke narrowed his glare at the orange-haired man.

"You wouldn't be able to take me on," Sasuke said arrogantly. I'm much stronger than my brother was."

"It was just luck that Itachi was killed. I am infinitely more powerful than Itachi could ever hope to be."

"Well, we'll just see about that" Sasuke said as he drew his sword from his back.

--

They had been ambushed. Kakashi didn't know how it had happened but somehow this group of four people had attacked them out of nowhere and worst of all they had lost Naruto and Sasuke. How had those two gotten separated from the rest of them? All four of the men wore Akatsuki cloaks and had numerous piercings. Yamato and himself had been confronted by a man with straight hair and many piercings on his face. Shikamaru's squad had taken on a large man with spiky hair and long, spear-like piercings through his ears; team Gai had been attacked by a lean man with long orange hair while Team Kurenai was being assaulted by a husky man with spikes protruding from his skull.

Several minutes into the fight, the groups had dispersed to having a good distance in between them. The fighting styles of these men were so bizarre and different from anything that anyone had ever faced before.

Yamato had been injured in the arm and his movements were slowed down considerably by this. "We need to somehow find Naruto and Sasuke, Kakashi-senpai! What if the nine-tails is awakened and Naruto loses control. We can't do anything because we're stuck here," Yamato yelled at his former ANBU teammate.

"I know," Kakashi replied.

He had already revealed his sharingan but even with its power it was difficult to predict this man's movements. There was definitely something not right with these guys.

Yamato distracted the Pein with a combination of wood based jutsu while Kakashi charged up a chidori. As the copy ninja rushed forward with his attack a sudden gust of razor sharp paper swooped between him and his opponent. Kakashi attacked the sheets with his chidori effectively disintegrating them.

Almost immediately after he had done so a fresh wave of sheets flew through the air and targeted the Pein that Kakashi had been fighting. As the paper surrounded him it slashed at his flesh causing blood to fly into the air. Soon an almost unrecognizable mutilated body lay on the ground leaving both Kakashi and Yamato in a confused state. Who had helped them and why?

Sai and Sakura, who had been watching the battle from nearby in case anything were to go wrong, had rushed over to the two after seeing what had just happened. Konan stepped out from behind a jagged structure of earth and approached the two ninjas. The Konoha ninjas watched her warily.

"Who are you? Was it you that did that?" Yamato said signaling toward the mangled corpse.

"I am Konan. I killed him because I need to ask a favor of you," Konan said almost apathetically.

"But why did you kill one of your team? You are an Akatsuki aren't you?" Sakura demanded.

"Yes I am an Akatsuki but he does not matter to me. There's only one that matters and that's why I need your help."

Kakashi looked at the women with doubt. Why would she need their help? Were they not enemies?

"How can we trust you?" Kakashi asked the blue-haired woman.

"Do you have a choice? If you attack me I will merely kill you but I would rather not do that since I would lose any hope of saving him," Konan replied.

"Him?" Sai questioned.

Kakashi knew that they didn't have time for this. They had to find Naruto before something bad happened. But this girl was right. They didn't really have a choice. If they helped her it may increase their chances of success as well but if they opposed her, it could be detrimental to them.

"I want you to help me save Yahiko. The only reason I joined the Akatsuki was to watch over him in hopes that one day I could rescue him."

"So who was that man that you killed?" Yamato questioned.

Konan leaned back against one of the walls of the canyon and began to explain. "That man was one of the six bodies that make up Pein. Pein is leader of Akatsuki that is controlled by Madara. He is also the one who killed Jiraiya-sensei. I assume you know of that since you are here. Yahiko, Nagato and I had trained under Jiraiya but the old man eventually abandoned us to go off on his own once again. We returned to the rain village, which was suffering from the affects of war. Some time after, Nagato was killed in one of the uprisings that were occurring against the powers in charge. Yahiko had managed to salvage Nagato's rinnegan. He used the excuse that it was a gift that Nagato was too much of a coward to appreciate. He decided he would be able to make much better use of it and exact revenge for Nagato. The two of us trained until we were able to overthrow the leaders of the village. We departed the village having been labeled as S ranked criminals. It was then that we met Madara and our lives changed forever."

Konan paused and stared off into the sky before finally continuing. It was obvious that this was a hard story for her to tell and that it was causing some unfavorable memories to resurface.

"Madara promised Yahiko power. He told him that he could give him the power to do anything and make him like a god. Yahiko bit at his offer. All he had wanted to do from the beginning was to take control of our village so that we could rebuild it and make it a better place. To him, this sounded like the best way to achieve that goal. That man took Yahiko away from me. I don't know exactly what he did to him but all his memories of our past and of me were gone from his mind. He changed physically as well. Somehow Madara was able to replicate Yahiko's rinnegan in several other men, all of which are mentally linked to Yahiko. These men are the one's that make up the one that you know as Pein. I stayed by his side in order to watch over him. I know that the real Yahiko with all his memories is buried in there somewhere and that with help I can get him back. "

Once Konan had finished the group looked at each other and then at her. Things were yet again becoming even more complicated.

"Kakashi-sensei, is there any way that we can help her. I mean, that's just terrible. Madara has been manipulating them. It's not entirely their fault. Besides, if we help her we gain an ally."

Sai nodded in agreement to the pink-haired girl's words.

Kakashi put his hand to his forehead and sighed. It couldn't be helped. If they somehow helped her they would undoubtedly gain her help and his in fighting against Madara. But how they were going to help her was a completely different question.

"Konan-san," Kakashi began as he looked at the anguished woman, "we'll do whatever we can to help you. Do you have any ideas as to how we can go about this?"

Konan smiled the first real smile that she had in years. She nodded. She had secretly been researching many forbidden jutsu on her own and she had some ideas.

--

Sasuke held his sword at the ready. This was an opponent he knew nothing about and his sharingan was telling him that there was something really messed up with his chakra as well. And what was up with that strange eye jutsu? Was it a bloodline limit or something else?

As Sasuke stared down his opponent, Naruto attempted another attack but from behind this time. This attack once again ended in failure and Naruto merely succeeded in rushing past him and ending up next to Sasuke.

"Why do you keep trying that? Can't you see that he's too fast for you?" Sasuke asked in frustration.

"Well how was I supposed to know that he would dodge like that?"

"Well, maybe it was the fact that you had already rushed past him that he could tell that you would attack him from behind dobe."

"Is that all you two are going to do is argue? You are seriously still just children aren't you? Are you sure that you're ready to be involved in battle?" Pein taunted.

"I'll show you…!" Naruto yelled and almost rushed at Pein a third time but Sasuke grabbed him by the collar and held him back.

"That won't do us any good Naruto. We need to attack together and not leave any openings. We still don't know what he's capable of. I have an idea though," Sasuke said in a low voice.

He pulled Naruto close to him and whispered in his ear. Naruto nodded and returned to face Pein while summoning a shadow clone.

"You think you have a plan now. How interesting," Pein mocked.

Naruto and his clone rushed forward towards Pein while forming a large rasengan between them. Just as Naruto was about to make contact with Pein, him and his clone jumped over the orange-haired Akatsuki. Pein's eyes followed the blonde as he soared overhead and landed far behind him. Pein turned his attention back to Sasuke, but he was no longer standing at a distance as before. Now he was within feet of Pein, enveloped with electricity from his chidori.

"This is it!' Sasuke thought.

"Chidori!" he yelled with confidence.

Pein smirked. He disappeared and reappeared next to Naruto before either Sasuke nor he could respond. Sasuke watched as Naruto's orange and black suit was pierced by an oddly shaped kunai.

No.

Sasuke could not respond. He was frozen to the ground were he stood. It was like the world had begun to run in slow motion but all he could do was watch. He watched as Naruto fell to his knees and crimson liquid splurted out of his mouth. He watched as Pein pulled the kunai out of Naruto's body, twisting its wicked blade as he did so.

Sasuke's senses suddenly returned to him and he rushed forward in rage. He pulled his arm back and then pushed forward, hitting Pein directly in the chest with a powerful chidori, which made him crumple to the ground in agony.

Naruto fell completely to the ground gasping for air and clutching at the wound in his chest, blood leaking out of the corners of his mouth. He knew that this was not good…he could feel himself slipping away…

Was this it? Was this the end? Would he never be able to see Sasuke's face again, never feel the touch of his body?

No. Naruto didn't even want to think about it…but he knew he was not going to last long. If this continued he was going to die….

Sasuke rushed over to Naruto's body, cradling it in his arms as he held him close to his chest.

Naruto's eyes opened slowly and weakly. Naruto gazed up at Sasuke. Tears began streaming uncontrollably down the raven-haired boy's face.

Naruto's blood-drenched hand reached up and caressed Sasuke's pale cheek leaving them stained with the crimson fluid.

"Sa…su...ke," Naruto said as he smiled weakly. Sasuke watched as the light faded from Naruto's eyes and soon became empty.

The body in Sasuke's arms became limp and unresponsive.

No, this couldn't happen.

"Naruto! Naruto wake up! You can't die! I was supposed to protect you!" Sasuke yelled at the blood-covered blonde.

Sasuke held the blonde's body close to his heart and refused to let go. Why had this happened? How had things gone so wrong? Things were finally looking like they would change for the better! Hadn't his life already brought enough suffering to him?

Sasuke continued clutching Naruto's lifeless body while he ran the entire event through his head over and over. What had he done wrong? How had he let Naruto be caught like that?

The tears continued to flow relentlessly as Sasuke continued to cradle his fallen lover. Yes…finally after so many things he was able to really call Naruto his lover, and yet here in his arm was his lifeless body. Sasuke allowed himself to release his grasp on Naruto's body slightly, allowing him to look at his face. He slowly and deliberately ran his trembling finger over Naruto's cooling lips. With his tears continuing to fall, Sasuke lowered his face to meet Naruto's lips softy; his lovers lips…they were already losing the heat and warmth that came, and so tragically went, with the presence of life.

The thought ran through Sasuke's head; they would never be together again. He would never again feel the warmth of Naruto's body against his. Never hear his sweet voice in his ears. Never abuse him for doing idiotic things. He was gone….

Sasuke let his body collapse atop Naruto's as he wished for death to take him as well. If they could no longer be together, he would much rather be dead. Life was not worth living if he couldn't live it with Naruto by his side.

* * *

AN: Um yeah nothing to say. Sorry for the angst fest. It was kind of amusing because when I was writing this I was listening to music and happy cracktastic songs would randomly come on and completely destroy the mood. I didn't think I could write Naruto's death but I think it turned out ok.


	13. Chapter 13

AN: YAY Eyeballs on wheels!!...I mean...

Just to clarify, this chapter did not take me an entire month to write. It just took me a month to finish it. School started and I got distracted with that. Plus working 40 hrs a week at Gasco. Also got distracted with watching Code Geass (I love Lulu) I'm just lazy too. I started writing this chapter the day after I finished my chapter 12. I wrote all the angsty stuff but then didn't feel writing fight scenes. I finally decided to sit my lazy butt down yesterday and did it. Thanks to my senpai, Saramoon, for reading it over for me! Loved your response to it. lolz. School has been interesting.

Oh and Naruto is not mine. really?

* * *

Sasuke continued to slump motionless atop the body of his fallen lover, sobbing heavily into the blood-drenched orange and black jumpsuit. Why did things have to be this way?

Sasuke raised his head slightly as the world around him returned. Despite his loss and despair at the moment, the world was going on around him whether he wanted it to or not. He should be assisting his teammates but…no he just couldn't. The team, Konoha, his clan, none of them mattered anymore.

He couldn't fight on. How was he ever going to be able go on without Naruto? Naruto was always the one pushing him to become better. When they were young, he had strove to always be better than the idiot. Once he had left to join Orochimaru and track down Itachi, the thought that Naruto was still pursuing him was the thought that kept him going. And now he had finally killed Itachi…he felt that he could finally avenge his clan, with Naruto's help, by killing Madara. For once he had true hope that he and Naruto could really be together. For once he had true optimism for his future.

Sasuke had long since given up on wiping the tears from his eyes, nor did he care to stop them. No matter what, they just kept falling.

Sasuke sat up slowly, constantly keeping his gaze fixed on Naruto's now cold body. He just stared at the motionless form. The raven-haired boy reached his hand around his back and grasped at the hilt of his sword. He unsheathed the katana and brought the cold steel blade forward. He slowly lined the blade up with his throat. His hands were shaking slightly but he didn't care anymore. It would be over soon and then he would be able to see Naruto again. Sasuke pressed the sharp blade close to his neck and felt warm liquid trickle down his skin. As long as he put enough chakra into it, one quick motion would end everything…

--

Neji jumped backward and landed upon a large boulder. He was breathing heavily and they were not succeeding in taking down the opponent. This man was fast. He was easily avoiding almost every attack that they threw at him. Even Lee and Gai couldn't successfully land a punch against this man. Neji knew that if his team couldn't take on their opponent, then everyone else must be having a difficult time as well. They were most likely in a much worse condition at this point than his team was. Neji froze momentarily as he heard a scream of pain. There was no doubting that it had been Hinata's voice. His mind raced. How badly was she hurt? If her teammates had let Hinata get hurt he was going to kill them.

He wanted nothing more than to rush over and rescue her, but his team had to come first. Neji looked at his team and their opponent. Gai and Lee had managed to get the orange-haired man caught in one of their combination attacks and Tenten was getting ready to strike him with one of her attacks as well.

"Tenten! Lee! Gai-sensei! Move away quickly!" Neji shouted as he rushed at Pein. Pein turned around to face his oncoming opponent. Neji stopped just short of the man and took a stance with one hand rested firmly on the ground. An intricate glowing circle appeared below him and he smiled. This was over.

A look of shock was apparent on Pein's face. He clearly had never had the misfortune of facing a Hyuuga in battle.

"Hakke Hyaku Nijūhachi Shō" Neji shouted and lunged at Pein. Neji quickly hit the man with his sixty-four strikes halting all the chakra flow in his body. The final hit caused Pein to fly backward as blood flew out of his mouth.

"Tenten! Now!" Gai yelled to the weapons master.

Tenten quickly pummeled the unmoving body with as many weapons as she could summon at once. It was better safe than sorry. The body now lay flat on the ground, a human pincushion.

The group stood breathing heavily. This battle was over. Neji hurried quickly away from his group.

"Neji!? Tenten yelled after him. What was he doing? Tenten sighed audibly. It was Neji after all. She would just have to trust what he was doing. Nobody could truly understand his actions anyway. Tenten began talking to Gai and Lee, the three of them discussing various aspects of what to do with the body.

Neji rushed through the landscape. With his byakugan activated he could clearly see where Hinata was. She was slumped against a boulder, perfectly unconscious and unmoving. She wasn't hurt…maybe a few bruises and her chakra flow was still regular. It seemed that for the moment, at least, she was out of harms way.

Kiba and Shino were preoccupied by the battle at hand and could not spare the precious moments to check on Hinata since it could easily cost them their lives. Kiba watched the man as he and Akamaru attacked him. This guy was just messed up. He didn't stop smiling the entire time they were fighting. Even when they hit him with a strong attack the guy just kept on smiling, like he was enjoying getting beat up.

Shino's insects sensed someone approaching and alerted him. He looked off in the direction where Hinata lay unconscious. He saw Neji jump from the top of a boulder and land on the ground and begin checking Hinata over for any major injuries.

"Shino!"

Shino looked back to the battle they were involved in and saw what Kiba had tried to alert him of. The man had come at him with a powerful punch. Shino had no time to react, no time to respond. He managed to put up a small shield of insects for defense but that probably would have been useless. Shino looked up from his shield. He had heard Pein collide with something, but it wasn't his shield. He gasped in surprise. Kiba was standing in front of him shielding Shino with his own body. Kiba's arm had taken the most impact from the collision and was mangled and bleeding. Akamaru was hanging from the man's arm, fangs sunk in as deep as he could manage.

"Damn it Shino! What's so distracting?!" Kiba cursed as he coughed up some blood. The attack was obviously meant to completely crush one's body and Kiba had taken the damage head on.

"Kiba, I…."

"Don't worry about it. Just get those insects of yours working," Kiba said as smiled at the eyeglass-clad ninja.

Shino blushed, not that anyone would be able to tell through the hood that he was wearing.

"Hijutsu mushidama," Shino said in a low and determined voice. He gathered all of his insects together and sent a large swarm at the enemy. Akamaru let go of the arm and Kiba jumped out of the way as insects invaded their opponent through the openings that had been left by their attacks. The man tried to escape but could not be freed of an enemy that was so small and numerous.

The man screamed and his body flailed on the ground as he attempted to rid himself of the swarm that was devouring his chakra. Shino bent over and lifted up Kiba into a sitting position as they both watched their opponents movements slow and eventually cease. They both breathed sighs of relief though Kiba's sigh led to him coughing up even more vital blood.

"Kiba!" Shino said in a concerned voice. "Don't worry we'll find Sakura-san and she'll fix you up. You'll be fine."

Kiba struggled to support himself eventually bringing himself to rest against a stone that was protruding from the ground.

Neji walked over to the two victorious shinobi, carrying a still unconscious Hinata.

"Heh, you really do worry about her a lot don't you?" Kiba questioned.

Neji just looked at Hinata who was still breathing steadily as if she had only fallen asleep. He brushed the hair from her face and kissed her forehead softly. She shifted her weight slightly in his arms and mumbled aloud.

"Naruto," she said quietly.

Neji's concerned expression was now one of contained rage. Kiba and Shino looked at each other worriedly.

"Ouch burned," Kiba in a hushed tone.

"I am not deaf Inuzuka. You think that I wouldn't be able to hear that!" the longhaired Hyuuga shouted at the injured shinobi.

Hinata's eyes fluttered open and she realized where she was.

"N..N..Neji! What are you…?" she stumbled over her words, which surprised no one, and blushed profusely.

"You were knocked out. Kiba and Shino finished off the enemy," Neji said curtly. She still cared for that retard and it pissed Neji off. Couldn't she just see that he could protect her and make her happy?

"Why are you holding me then?" Hinata questioned timidly.

At this, Neji blushed slightly, "I just wanted to make sure that you were uninjured."

"Don't let him fool you Hinata, he likes you and was worried about you," Kiba said in his usual self-confident tone.

"Inuzuka, you are a dead man," Neji tensed his muscles in rage.

"Neji-san…Kiba didn't mean anything. Besides he's hurt," Hinata hurriedly said. She had to protect her teammates.

Shino chose this moment to speak up. "We need to find Sakura-san and the others. They might still need help and we need medical assistance."

The others nodded in understanding. Neji and Shino placed the body of their defeated opponent on Akamaru. They didn't know if it might possibly hold important information. Shino supported Kiba's weight as the group walked off in search of the others.

--

Man this guy was so troublesome, Shikamaru though to himself. They had been battling for god knows how long and still had not managed to slow their opponent's movement in the least. Chouji had nailed the man with his baika no jutsu several times, yet these had not managed to slow him down. Since they could not manage to cease his movements for even a second, Shikamaru had not been able to capture him in a shadow possession. Ino's abilities were useless against this man if they could not make him halt his attacks, even for an instant.

Shikamaru was having trouble focusing and forming a good tactic to take down this man. Everything that he came up with just seemed to get trampled by this guy's odd techniques. He had, for the most part been able to isolate himself from the battle, that is until the Pein body had managed to figure out that he was indeed the one making all the calls and forming the plans.

Pein came directly at Shikamaru. Ino and Chouji were both too far away to save him.

"Shikamaru!" both of his teammates yelled.

"Shit," Shikamaru swore.

"Kirikiri mai!" the group heard someone yell as gusts of wind crashed into Pein, knocking him backward and slashing his skin.

Shikamaru, who had been knocked onto the sandy ground, was now looking up at the back of a female sand shinobi. Temari was standing in front of him in a defensive position, ready to attack the man if he even attempted to come near Shikamaru.

"W…Where did you come from?" Shikamaru asked the konuichi.

"What do you mean where did I come from?! I came here to save your ass you useless man!" Temari bit back at his comment.

"If I can get him down long enough can you grab his shadow?" the blonde asked of Shikamaru.

Shikamaru automatically knew what she had planned. She wasn't here alone. Her brothers must be with her as well.

"Yeah," he answered confidently as he stood up and brushed himself off.

"Good. Now excuse me." Temari lunged forward to attack the man before he had a chance to pick himself off the ground.

Shikamaru performed several hand signs rapidly and initiated his kagemane no jutsu. His shadow moved across the ground and towards the opponent. He knew that once they connected, this battle was theirs. Yet, it still troubled him that he was not able to predict this mans movements well enough to even come up with a single sufficient strategy.

There. The shadows had touched. Shikamaru forced the man on to his feet and made him simply stand there. Shikamaru knew what was coming any moment now. Here it was. The sand beneath Pein began to slink up his body and engulf him. There was no hope of survival for this man. Not only was he caught in a shadow possession but he was now about to be crushed by sand controlled by none other than the kazekage himself. Gaara stepped out from behind a boulder and approached the group, followed by Kankuro.

"Sand coffin," Gaara said in an apathetic voice as he crushed the man with his chakra infused sand. Gaara released the sand and the body slumped to the ground in a lifeless pile.

Shikamaru plopped himself down on the ground. Man, was that stressful. He really didn't think that they were going to make it through that, yet thanks to Temari they were able to make it out with minor injuries. Amazing, as much as he hated to admit, that woman was simply amazing. Shikamaru had been thinking with his eyes closed. When he opened his eyes Temari was staring directly at him with her face only several inches from his.

"You ok?" she asked him in a voice that contained a detectable amount of worry.

"Yeah" he said as he turned his head away from Temari's gaze. The konuichi tilted her head in a questioning manner.

"You sure that you're not hurt?" She asked again in a slightly softer voice.

"I'm sure. Thank you Temari, for saving me."

Temari sat down next to Shikamaru setting her fan to the side.

"You are such a troublesome man. What if I hadn't shown up? What would you have done?"

"I honestly don't know. This was the first time that I couldn't come up with a plan and it bothers me. What if it happens again and I can't protect my team?" Shikamaru said as he looked off at his teammates.

Temari put her hand on the sulking boy's shoulder in a comforting manner.

"Shikamaru, you don't need to worry about that. You're a brilliant strategist. You were just off, that's all."

"But what if..."

Temari cut him off, "Don't worry about it."

Shikamaru sighed. "I guess you're right."

"Hey! You two lovebirds ready to head out? We need to find the others!" Ino yelled at them while smiling broadly and knowingly.

Shikamaru and Temari turned away from each other as if denying the statement. The two stood up and walked off with the rest of the group sticking next to each other.

--

Sasuke took one final look at Naruto's body and closed his eyes. He lowered the sword that he had pressed against his throat and sighed heavily. He couldn't do it. This wasn't like him, to collapse into a pathetic heap like this and almost end his life. He was an avenger. He would show Pein and everyone else what happens when they mess with him. Sasuke sheathed his sword and began to stand up while gathering Naruto's body in his arms.

"It's not over yet," Sasuke spoke aloud to himself, "there's still time."

He lowered his head to look at the body in his arms. Sasuke started at what he saw. The wound where Naruto had been stabbed was releasing smoke-like tendrils. He activated his sharingan and examined it more closely. The wound was engulfed with red chakra, and not just the wound. Naruto's whole body was filled with swirling, circulating red chakra.

"What in the…" Sasuke began to say.

That was the kyuubi's chakra no doubt. But if Naruto was dead then shouldn't the kyuubi have died as well?

Sasuke lowered the body back down to the ground and knelt by its side. What was going on here? Sasuke unzipped the jumpsuit and looked closely at Naruto's chest. The wound had completely healed. There was no longer a trace that anything had marred Naruto's body save the blood covered and torn clothing. Sasuke watched as Naruto suddenly took a breath of air and picked up a regular breathing pattern. Tears began to well in Sasuke's eyes again for reasons he could not explain. Naruto was alive. He could see him breathing. Somehow the kyuubi had saved him. Sasuke brushed a pale hand across Naruto's face and spoke gently to him.

"Naruto. Naruto can you hear me?"

Naruto flinched slightly at the sound of the voice. A smile replaced the concerned look upon Sasuke's tear-streaked face. He was ok. Sasuke's happiness was short-lived though. It was soon replaced by a sinking feeling along with other incomprehensible ones. Naruto had opened his eyes and was staring at Sasuke with a fierce gaze as he began to sit upright. The eyes that were fixed upon Sasuke were not the lucid blue eyes of his lover. They were the cold, bloodthirsty eyes of a beast.

Sasuke pulled a kunai from his pouch and quickly brought it to Naruto's throat.

"Where is Naruto?" he questioned forcefully as he glared at the kyuubi with his mangekyou sharingan.

"Hmph". The kyuubi smirked and placed a hand on the kunai in Sasuke's hand pushing it away with little difficulty. He leaned back into a relaxed position and looked at the rage-filled Uchiha in front of him.

"You mean the boy? He's gone," The kitsune said in a plain tone that was lacking in any trace of emotion.

* * *

AN:In case some people don't know the Japanese for certain attacks, here is a key.

Hakke Hyaku Nijūhachi Shō- Eight trigrams One-hundred twenty eight palms, Neji's kickass awesomeness

Hijutsu Mushidama-Secret art insect swarm. Shino's bug swarming technique

Bakai no jutsu-meat tank technique, Chouji's technique.

Kagemane no jutsu-shadow possession technique. Obviouslty Shikamaru's technique

Kirikiri mai-Double slashing dance-Temari's fan technique

Gomen. Sorry about the cliffhanger. I do what I must because I can. Comments are greatly appreciated! I want to know what you guys think! Next chapter will hopefully be up soon. I need to finish this story before November.


	14. Chapter 14

AN: Holy crap it has been months since I submitted for this story. I apologize to anyone who has been keeping up with it.

I've had issues as far as this story goes. I had to stop writing it back in November because of NaNoWriMo. That story will be posted on deviantart and I will put the link up as soon as it is finished. I got really busy with exams, and then I had job issues which if you want to know about you can ask me. I joined a Vampire the Masquerade rpg a couple months ago and have been thouroughly distracted with that. I found this chapter half finished the other day when I was going through my documents and I decided to finsih it.

I will finish this story with the original storyline that I had in mind when I started it despite obvious inconsistencies with the manga. I don't care that this has gone off in a completely different direction from the manga, I'll finish it as I originally intended.

Thanks again to anyone who is still reading. Please read, review and enjoy. ^_^ End random tangent

* * *

"We just need to find Yahiko," Konan stated plainly. "Once we find him all I need is for your group to hold him down while I initiate the jutsu. Hopefully that should be able to separate him from whatever soul he was fused with to create Pein."

Kakashi, who had kept his eyes closed in meditation while Konan was speaking, opened his eyes ad began to talk to the blue-haired girl. "We need to find the rest of our party. I think that the more people we have around for this the better in case something goes wrong."

Konan nodded in agreement. "Do you have any idea where the rest of them could be?"

Just then, the group heard movement coming toward them. The looked off in the distance and saw the rest of their shinobi walking towards them, albeit not in the best condition. Gai was the first to approach Kakashi since the others were busy aiding their comrades in travel. He looked at Konan incredulously and then back at Kakashi. He pulled Kakashi close and whispered to him.

"Kakashi, what's going on? Isn't this girl an enemy? Look at the clouds on the cloak," Gai said.

"Actually Gai…." Kakashi began.

"I am actually in need of your help. I hope that you can lend me your aid," Konan said, interrupting Kakashi's sentence.

Gai raised a large eyebrow skeptically. The entire group of assembled shinobi looked at her untrustingly. What could she possibly need from them? She was Akatsuki after all. Why would an enemy want their help after they had just killed her comrades? Those with questions held them to themselves as Kakashi explained what the new plan of action was. They had to find Naruto and Sasuke because that was undoubtedly where the last Pein body would be.

While Kakashi talked to the group and answered questions, Konan looked over the bodies of Pein that the ninjas had managed to take down. She was rather surprised that the groups had been able to take them down without any casualties on their part. Maybe there was hope. Maybe with this group they would be able to defeat Madara even. Though she doubted that Yahiko and herself would be able to leave on their own once everything was over without any hassle but at least for now this seemed to be the best course of action.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"What do you mean gone?" Sasuke said as stared into the kyuubi's fierce eyes.

"Your souls were linked together by the seal. If he died you should have too. Why is it that you're here and he's not?" Sasuke's voice began to shake. Why did things seem to always get more complicated?

The kyuubi smirked, "that seal had weakened so much over the years. I managed to extricate myself from it before I was pulled out of this world. It's really as simple as that. That's why you see me here and not him."

"But why are you still in his body then? If you've released the seal, then why are you not in your complete form?" Sasuke inquired.

The kyuubi sighed loudly. "That hokage of yours really knew what he was doing. He didn't only make a seal that bound our souls together. There were two seals, though you wouldn't know by looking at it; one for our souls and then another that keeps me tied to this wretched mortal body."

Sasuke sat, still kneeling on the ground, completely lost in thought. So Naruto's soul had been taken. Hmmmm…He wasn't sure if anything he tried was going to work. All the techniques that he had been taught during his training with Orochimaru were useless in this situation. What was the point of everything that he had learned if he couldn't use it to protect the ones he loved?

The kyuubi watched the thought-absorbed boy in front of him. He himself was rather curious as to what the Uchiha could be planning. Humans never ceased to amaze him with the insanely stupid and life-threatening things they would do in order to help someone else. He had watched Naruto enough to know that humans were not as predictable a lot as one would expect. Sasuke came out of his thoughts and looked at the kyuubi.

"What is it boy?" The kyuubi asked inquisitively. Sasuke stood up and looked down at the demon fox.

"I need you to stay here and protect Naruto's body while I'm gone," the Uchiha stated plainly.

"And who said I was going to willingly cooperate with you, Uchiha boy?" the kyuubi said as he stood up to meet Sasuke's glare.

Sasuke wasn't completely sure of himself at this point. What if his theory didn't work? He was up against a tailed beast after all. If this didn't work he would be in some serious danger. Sasuke lifted his katana and pointed the blade at Naruto's throat.

"I will make you do what I need you to do," Sasuke said with his activated sharingan as he stepped closer to the kyuubi attempting to stare him down.

The kyuubi began laughing. Once again, it bothered Sasuke to hear something so sinister coming from Naruto's mouth. He would get Naruto back, and suppress this, this thing.

"Listen to me now brat," The kyuubi said as he took Sasuke's sword in his hand and moved close the raven-haired boy. "You lack everything needed to control me. You're unsure of your ability to save him. You have no confidence in your own power right now and it makes you weak."

Sasuke glared at the demon in front of him. Too many times had his brother called him weak and said he lacked hatred. Now he was getting the same lecture from a demon. Sasuke pushed back on the kyuubi and forced him against the wall of the canyon they were in.

"Oh, now you're serious are you boy?" the kyuubi taunted in amusement. This boy certainly was interesting.

"Yes, I am. You remind me of the person that I had spent my entire life chasing after in order to destroy. I will take you down too if you dare to stand in my way." Sasuke glared at the kyuubi with eyes as equally fierce as the demon. His mangekyou sharingan had activated and the kyuubi had lost some of his confidence as a result.

"You will obey me," Sasuke said in a determined voice as he pushed the kyuubi into the wall while glaring him down.

"I WILL save him no matter what and you will cooperate otherwise I will kill you," Sasuke said in a voice that was dripping with anger.

Damn this brat and damn that cursed bloodline of his. The kyuubi glared back at the dark-haired boy with obvious hatred. Those eyes, he hated them. They were the same eyes that Uchiha Madara possessed.

The kyuubi returned the intense glare though he was beginning to falter slightly under the power to the mangekyou sharingan that was weighing him down. He doubted that he would be able to resists their influence for much longer.

"Fine, I'll help you boy," the kyuubi snarled as he pushed against Sasuke again causing the raven-haired boy to back away from him.

"Good," Sasuke said contemptuously as he turned around and walked away from the kyuubi. He located a large flat rock face and brushed the sand off of it. He brought his katana up to his other hand and sliced into it. He wasn't sure if this technique would even work. He had learned it from some scrolls of Orochimaru's that he had been reading but he had never attempted it himself. He was surprised at how much information Orochimaru had on techniques involving death and the souls but he figured that one had to know as much about death as possible if one was to avoid it completely as Orochimaru was attempting.

The kyuubi looked on curiously. What could the boy be planning? Sasuke had painted a string of kanji on the rock face in a spiral pattern using his own blood. He only had a vague idea of where Naruto's soul could have been sent but it was a better guess than anything else.

"What are you doing boy?" the kyuubi questioned critically.

Sasuke turned around to face the kyuubi and addressed him in a cold tone. "Watch over Naruto's body and mine while I'm gone. If anything happens to his body, I swear I will kill you."

The kyuubi stared at Sasuke, still not completely sure of what he was planning on doing. _'Watch over Naruto's body and mine while I'm gone'_. Sasuke's words reverberated inside the kyuubi's head.

"Hmph. I see now boy. You're planning on going there yourself aren't you? You do realize that you'll probably die right? Do you really know if this technique of yours is going to work properly?"

Sasuke didn't respond. The kyuubi was right, this technique could fail horribly. He might not even be able to get to the other world let alone find Naruto. Even if he did make it there, he knew that this was probably suicide on his part. But if he didn't at least attempt it then Naruto was gone forever. He would bring him back even if he didn't make it back alive, at least Naruto would.

Sasuke placed his hand on the spiral of kanji and the letters began to glow a deep crimson red. Sasuke moved as if to walk forward and his body collapsed on the ground. The kyuubi, who had been watching him intently, saw this happen and merely smirked.

"Guess you're a smart one Uchiha boy," he chuckled as he walked over to Sasuke and propped his body up against the boulder. He wasn't sure how that jutsu had worked but he assumed that it would probably be best to not move the body far from the seal.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"He's so adorable isn't he Minato?" the blond hokage nodded as he picked up his newborn son that his wife had been holding. He looked lovingly at his son as the infant smiled back joyfully.

"Naruto, one day I'm sure you'll be hokage just like me. I'll help you get there," he promised his son who had begun to fall asleep.

The room faded and was replaced by a large city. Yahiko and Konan stood on the edged of a balcony overlooking the cityscape.

"Konan, I'll make sure that we can protect this city and make it work properly, for you, for us," Yahiko promised.

Konan smiled at him. "I'm sure you will Yahiko," she said as she turned to face him and embraced him.

"I'm sure that we can bring peace to this city, just like Jiraiya-sensei told us to," Konan said optimistically.

That scene faded as well and was replaced by darkness. Pein felt his head spinning and his entire body ached. '_Who had those people been?' _he wondered to himself. He had seen them both in his dreams before and in various stages of their lives but he still did not know exactly who they were to him. He tried to open his eyes but when light filtered past his eyelids he was forced to close them again as his aching head increased in strength and became completely unbearable. He lay there for several more minutes trying to piece together what had happened. He remembered now. He had killed the Jinchuuriki but then that Uchiha had attacked him. Pein sat up and analyzed his surroundings. He was in the same place as he had been before. '_What in the…'_

Pein looked in front of him fixed on the scene with disbelief. The jinchuuriki was sitting there looking as if nothing had ever injured him save for his blood-drenched clothes but the Uchiha boy was sitting unconscious against the face of a large rock. Pein stared at the kyuubi who stared intently back.

"I was wondering when you were going to wake up," the kyuubi said apathetically.

Pein stood despite the fact that his body was screaming in pain.

"Don't even think of attacking me. I won't be taken down like the boy was," the kyuubi snarled.

Pein gathered that somehow the tailed beast had managed to hang onto the body even after death though how he did not know.

The two stared at each other. Pein's plan had backfired on him. He had no idea what he was going to do now, though he knew that he would have to kill this demon if his plans to overthrow Madara were to succeed.

* * *

AN: Ok so that is chapter 14. Looking to tie this up in about 4 more chapters. Need motivation for finishing quickly so I can get onto more exciting stories.


End file.
